Matt and I walked out of chemotherapy on Wednesday and saw this on the back of our car. It's the Shepard Fairey Obama sticker, and it used to look like this.
Shame!
The person who stood by my car and peeled off my sticker knew that it was wrong. What a furtive, stupid, uncivil thing to do. Didn't your mama teach you better?
I don't think it's an over-generalization to say that whoever did this feels ineffective in his or her life, and is probably prone to acts of impotent rage. Whatever dumbass, please keep your hands off my stuff.
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33 comments:
My sister once had the same thing happen to a sticker on her truck. It was a "Mean People Suck" sticker. As pissed off as she was, she had to laugh at the person proving her point.
Living in Georgia during the years of Prez Bush's admin, as much as the thousands of those W stickers I saw annoyed me, it never ONCE occurred to me to deface one. Like you said, my mother taught me better.
Mean people suck.
I lived through eight years of Bush/Cheney and had a my fill of Bush signs, T-shirts, and bumper stickers.I was always stupified that some people elevated him to a pedestal. But, hey, they had that right. Not once did I honk, cast a one finger salute, or give an ugly look or hateful word in anyone's directions. I celebrated our First Amendment(okay, sometimes ruefully).But during those same years I was more than a few times the target of all those tactics. All because I was exercising MY First Amendment rights. I still display my Obama sticker and shall not remove it. Some people do not live out the tenets of our free society. The all-fired nerve of that bozo that ripped off your sticker! Probably some underemployed, uninsured pawn of the Republican/Corporate Party thinking he was striking a blow. How ignorant.
I don't think I am overstating it when I say that I have observed an increasing tendency among some elements of the GOP towards an intolerance for the electorial process. They believe so strongly in the rightness of there positions that they don't trust democracy anymore. If they lose an election they question the legitimacy of their oppoents. If you don't agree with them, you are unfit to engage in civil discourse. This strain of the rightwing won't be happy until there is a one-party theocracy in America. Anyone who opposes them is suspect.
Ugh. Nothing galls me more than vandalism. It's so ugly and pointless. At least if someone's stealing your bike, they might really need a ride, right?
How awful! I have to admit I actually gasped when I saw your picture. It's just such a mean thing to do -- it serves no other purpose than to try to ruin someone's day.
That's just dumb. Was it "act like an 8 year old" day or something?
What a bummer. You'll have to get you a new sticker, girl!
Really? Outside of chemo? Talk about lack of manners.
Ugh. We just moved to Boston and I have to say I am loving the abundance of liberal bumper stickerisms around here. Today's fave was - Stop watching Fox news.
I have nothing to add that hasn't been said by you or your other readers. I'm just adding a voice of amazement and frustration. "Anger" might be overkill had this not been outside of chemo. There's something particularly harsh about that.
As a liberal-leaning on-the-fencer and proud supporter of the current President, I admit that I was kind of hoping one of the outrages commenters (is that a term?) would be a self-described conservative. It's nice when someone will "cross the aisle" in support of basic civility. Anyone? Anyone?
Are you kidding me?! Who does that?? And at the CANCER CENTER for crying out loud!
I meant "outraged." Sorry. Long weekend. :)
I know, outside the cancer center. Sigh.
And well said, Megan! I think I have lots of lovely (and beloved) readers who would describe themselves as conservative, and who probably voted for the other guy. Maybe they will chime in--I know none of them would be sneaky parking lot peelers.
Let's keep it classy people!
As you know, I'm a proud member of the GOP yet I would never think to do such a thing. MOST of us are rational, well intentioned people who just have a different view. I cannot believe someone would have the nerve to do something like that to someone's personal property...add onto it at a Cancer Center...my God people are horrid. Totally unacceptable no matter how they feel.
On a separate note, I'm so glad I never had a W sticker on my car. :)
You know what's funny though? You never really know if your bumper sticker is having any sort of effect... if it's being noticed, or whatever. Unless it's a "Honk if you're..." sticker, this is really the only way to get feedback on its efficacy. And the Shepard Fairey sticker fared big apparently. So huzzah!
Plus, it's great fun to imagine the person doing the peeling, mumbling to themselves... "I'll show THEM yes we did... make me look at this stupid sticker, will you? THIS'll teach em to shove my nose in it... dammit--can't quite get under this corner-- oops, well there's a fresh manicure shot to hell... stupid Obama ruined my fingernail... why is he out here chipping my nail polish when he should be in the Gulf plugging up that leak?"
UGLY. Just, ugly. There's a whole lotta of hateful out there, and I believe an objective view would agree that a disproportionate amount of it comes from the conservative end of the spectrum. Why is that?
Thanks Hootie for the fab stream-of-consciousness scenario.
I've wanted to smash into many people with a "W" sticker on their car but have always refrained. Whoever this ahole is needs to be punched in the dingaling. Or face, whichever.
My Obama yard signs kept getting stolen. I was PISSED because people were coming up onto our lawn in the middle of the night. (I am in W land here. Now we're seeing a ton of "Meg" yard signs & stickers for Meg Whitman.)
BTW I had that exact sticker on my car and it was defaced by a mini vandal - my own four year old! She was peeling just to be randomly destructive, though. She loves "Iraq Obama" as she calls him.
Oh and way back in the day, my mom was a police dispatcher and one night as she worked the graveyard shift someone defaced her Mondale/Ferraro bumper sticker. So I guess some things never change.
Oh and also - I wore an Obama t-shirt (the MoveOn one with his face from pixelated dots) the morning after the election and as I walked my kids to school, someone had the audacity to complain that I was being "provocative." OMG! I lived through eight years. Give me one day.
I'm not a huge Obama fan (please don't hate) BUT I wouldn't ever rip off someone's car sticker. It served no purpose. Accomplished nothing. If their intentions were to teach some sort of lesson, I'm guessing they were highly unsuccessful. Ugh! Mean people make me sad.
Hopefully you can find yourself another sticker!
Can you at least post a little sign in the window next to it? Like a wittier version of "Real Mature, Loser" with an arrow pointing to the sticker?
Surely the culprit is around town and would eventually see your rebuttal?
Becky, you know I am a "lovely beloved conservative reader" and I think this is disgusting. I agree with Keely in that in some aspects vandalism is worse than theft, or even the Hummer that rammed into my car a week ago. This is a personal attack. It's ugly and hateful and I am so sorry this happened. Boo.
This was an excellent post. I'll be back to comment more meaningfully once I find my "indoor" voice.
Sorry I’m late! Maybe it have been an upset dem? I’ve been busy speaking with union dems upset about the latest regs published last week and how they may be no longer able to provide benefits to their members. Whoever it was, it was a bored, rude thug. Speaking of which, glad your vehicle did not get what happened to my friend’s while at a Home Depot lot. She got in, turned the key and ROAR!--under her car the whole catalytic converter had been cut away and removed. Precious metal exchanged for $150 at the scrap yard, but her damage cost her and insurance $2,000+.
I'll be one more on the conservative spectrum saying that it's a rude and immature act. I'm a fan of playing within both the real laws and the rules of society. I don't go tearing down the right-to-life stickers, and I find some of those truly offensive.
I wish people would use some manners about what they place in the public eye though. I don't want to have to explain "F the President" to my kids or any one of the other rude stickers I've seen. Support something, don't just insult others.
Though I may not share your opinion, I cherish your freedom to express it! At least you had something positive to say. :)
At first I thought someone had marked it out as if it were the oil spill and I thought, Hmmmmmm.
Out here in wonderful Los Angeles, anything BUT Obama stickers are cause for gaping and maybe some rude glaring. I was raised in Atlanta and have very conservative parents who, nonetheless, bit their lips and bore my Obama stickers -- as I did their W's.
I've always maintained that Southern "manners" don't run that deep -- i.e. "Look at that Obama sticker. Bless her heart." RIIIIIIPPPP--
I've been following for a couple of months now but have never commented before but this post compels me. I think we can all agree that there are loons and extremists on both sides. My beef with the previous comments is that they fail to attribute the vile defacement of the bumper sticker to a far-right crazie. Clear-minded, democracy-lovin' conservatives would never act this way. I was fairly shocked with the polarizing and disrespectful comments coming from some of the leftie commenters. Justified outrage at the vandalism is one thing. Accusatory assumptions and hateful over-generalizations about conservatives in general are quite another. This fanatical mind-set makes you no better than the vandal that openly displayed his/her extremist position.
@ rositarose: unfortunately it seems that "clear-minded, democracy-lovin' conservatives" are in short supply these days. Sadly, I think Camp Papa hit the nail on the head.
@ Steve Even Camp Papa conceded that it was "some elements of the GOP" that behave thusly. His only mistake was not identifying those elements as the fringe. Everything he said could be used to describe the far-left radicals in this country as well. It is when we fall into the trap of believing that one act is indicative of a whole movement (ie, there go those GOP-ers again) that our judgement clouds and healthy debate shuts down. Besides, being a clear-minded fellow yourself, I am sure you can agree that one act of bad behavior (the vandalism) never justifies another (hateful or disrespectful speech).
I think all of the comments have been civil, but In response to the little heated debate I would add that we don't even know for certain if the perpetrator was a republican. Really, they could have been a psycho racist that has no political stance or as Michelle R. said "an upset dem" At least we all agree this sticker peeler is bad.
Amen to:
1) extremists or haters on either side, bad and not our kind.
2) sticker peelers, bad bad BAD!
My new sticker arrived in the mail today. I will not be silenced!
@ Rositarose: I believe Camp Papa referred to "elements of the GOP." I didn't interpret that as an indictment of the entire GOP, or the Tea Party for that matter. Where those elements reside doesn't really concern me. Heck, an argument could be made that the Tea Party is comprised largely of fringe elements of the GOP. And I agree, healthy debate does shut down when one side refuses to acknowledge the other. I find it deeply saddening when that occurs. I was reminded of that all too often during the Bush years when audiences were heavily screened prior to W's speaking engagements to preclude any dissenting voices or opinions. Simply wearing an unacceptable t-shirt was enough to be excluded. I'm glad that is behind us. And from what I understand, Obama even allows fringe elements carrying assault rifles to attend his public speaking engagements. How's that for an open and inclusive forum? So why don't we show a little tolerance of differing view points going forward. No need to deface or shout down that with which you disagree.
Okay, this is really weird, but my friend Melissa had an IDENTICAL Obama sticker on her car, and someone did the EXACT same thing to it. Could there be a crazed cross-country sticker vandal out there?
I don't care which side of the aisle you fall - keep you ^%$#@! hands to yourself.
Craziness.
You put that new one on with pride.
And that's a "conservative" talking. We're not all wing-nuts ;-)
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