Monday, December 21, 2009

Haterphernalia

Seen on a truck bumper on the way to town yesterday:

IF YOU OBJECT TO LOGGING
TRY USING PLASTIC TOILET PAPER

I'm gonna go ahead and come out against haterphernalia. Now this message isn't as bad as some I've seen, but something about it irks me. I don't happen to object to logging altogether, although I do seriously dislike planted pines for pulpwood. I feel like the issue is too complex to sum up on a bumper sticker. I suppose it bothers me because it seems confrontational and negative. I don't like it. We have enough problems with bad drivers causing road rage, we don't need people getting pissed off at the car in front of them just for their bumper sticker.

I get that people have different beliefs from me, but at least I try to be polite about it. I will bow my head and wait when people say grace. (But in my head I'm replaying that scene from Firefly where the shepherd asks, "Would you mind if I say grace?" and the Captain says, "Only if you say it out loud.") But that's when they've invited me to dinner in their house. The road is public, governed by traffic laws that depend on people treating each car with the respect it deserves as a potentially deadly weapon. If you stick something on there that basically says, "I hate you," that's a pretty serious threat. I went kayaking with a friend who decided to peel his Obama "Yes We Did" sticker off his car when he parked at a State Park with big trucks sporting a lot of conservative haterphernalia.

Now I'm pretty sure haterphernalia constitutes free speech, so I'm certainly not saying negative bumper stickers should be banned. I just think if we aren't supposed to be reading messages on our cell phones while we drive we shouldn't be peppered with other emotionally involving messages either.

3 comments:

  1. I made this word up a few weeks ago after the incident at the State Park. I assumed somebody else had made it up already, too. It's a big world. But it actually doesn't come up in a Google search at all. And it's such a good word! I guess I should grab the URL....

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. I did register the URL. Makes a nice set with spasmsofaccommodation.com

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