I'm glad to see it too. I really wish there was more of it.

America, as far as I'm aware, has always had a sizable problem with pejorative thinking (Asians can't drive, I know because the Asian I saw was a horrible driver; all Muslims are terrorists, I know because the Muslim I saw on TV was a terrorist; all plumbers are crooks, I know because a plumber ripped me off once), but it seems like it has grown a whole order of magnitude over the last six or seven years. I don't know if it just appears that way because I've been paying closer and closer attention over the last decade or if it's an actual phenomenon, but it seems like the tendency to think pejoratively and in little bite-size bumper-sticker slogans has reached a level which I can only describe as patent insanity.

It's an aspect of the American zeitgeist which really deeply saddens me. If there was one thing about this country I could wave a magic wand at and change it would be the willingness of so many people to buy so completely into flimsy archetypes which really have little or no basis in reality. If for no other reason, this saddens me because when so many people are so easily swayed by such obviously hollow propaganda it makes all of us less free. So I'm definitely happy to see that there is a limit to the Kool-Aid drinking in the Republican camp.

Whenever I see that avatar, I think "Willie Nelson!" I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE ASSOCIATION COMES FROM. I guess the blue is Willie's bandana, the two outer tentacles are like his pigtails and the other four tentacles are a beard? Seriously, why Willie Nelson? I DON'T KNOW.

ANYWAY.

It seems like it is much easier to isolate yourself within a group of like-minded people and ignore the bits of reality that don't agree with you (like Stephen Colbert's character in The Colbert Report) than it was twenty or thirty years ago. You can whittle down an entire speech to a thirty-second clip fest on YouTube and have millions of people watch it, and they'll do no research beyond the talking points. Or any opinion is instantly validated because it's on the Internet, which of course is the fantasyland of misinformation.

The other day I was driving behind a truck with a big old trailer attached to it. Every inch of the trailer's rear was plastered in Republican bumper stickers. Not just McCain/Palin 08 stuff (although there was plenty of that too), but stickers with sayings like
- 'Don't tolerate everything - Diversity is Decisive'
- 'Why Should I have to press '1' for English?'
- Remember 9-11 - The Left Has Already Forgotten
And there were a couple saying 'Lay Off Palin, She's A Real Hot American Mom' and the like. It just amazes me that people want to identify themselves with these sentiments. Not so much the Lay off Palin stuff...I can sorta understand that. But a lot of the other stickers were just spite and vitriol; how does flaunting your rage help the country?

While it's not exactly what this conversation is about, I think most sensible people can agree that bumper stickers of all kinds are detrimental to society.