. . .bumper sticker seen in St. George, Utah. What does this mean?
It seems like right wing, nutty, bigoted speak to me. But I’m not sure. Am I being wooshed?
There’s at least a dozen ways that could go. It could be “keep a closer eye on immygrants or Amy Grant.” It could be “This is a Christian nation, and everybody else needs a tight leash.” It could be “Our precious daughters are in danger, and we need to shut down those bookstores and Victorious Secret.” It could be “All you commies get offa my lawn, or I’ll throw a Molotov Cocktail atcha.” It could be “Those villains poisoning my air should not be free to do so.”
You get the idea. My enemies are much too free to annoy me. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s me, but somebody is too goddamn free!
Could be. Might also be left wing just as easily.
In St. George, Utah? Unlikely.
I just Googled on “bumper sticker” and “America Needs Less Freedom”. The only website that came up was this blog:
http://visitoutwest.blogspot.com/
Is this your blog, fervour? Or is there only one car in the world with that bumper sticker? Notice that it was also in St. George, Utah that it was seen.
Maybe the bumpersticker is to remind us that there actually are many Americans among us who believe exactly that – that we need less freedom. They want to pass amendments to the Constitution limiting freedoms. In that case, the “reminder” might be from the left, but it could just as easily be a centrist.
Or maybe it’s just to make us think.
I’m reminded of the “Amendment-To-Be” Schoolhouse Rock parody from The Simpsons:
“There are a lot of flag-burners who have got too much freedom.
We ought to make it legal for policemen to beat 'em.”
I find this vanishingly unlikely - not because all left-wingers are freedom loving; it just doesn’t sound like something they’d say. Regardless, it’s a failure as a bumper sticker because the message is totally unclear.
That’s my partner’s blog. I don’t have a blog. I googled the phrase too and came up with nothing either. I’ve never seen another bumper sticker with that phrase. Now I’m wondering if there was supposed to be a companion bumper sticker that may have gotten removed or something that might have finished the thought—a sort of “gotcha” that we might have missed.
All I could think of were things along the line of what AskNott has posted. It would sure be odd if it were a one-of-a-kind bumper sticker. Can you get those?—after googling, apparently so— One can get a single, professional quality bumper sticker for the low price of $4.95. Who knew?
Being further left-wing than right, I was having a hard time thinking like the other side might which is why I started the thread. I guess it could be advocating gun control.
If it meant “America [corporately] needs less freedom [to invade other countries]”, that could be a left-wing sentiment, couldn’t it? (it would be an obscure way to say it, but whatever it’s saying, it’s already obscure anyway)
Welll, my first take on it as a Canuk was that it was a protest against the Bush administration, as they seem to use the cause of defending freedom everywhere as justification for their actions.
colour me puzzled…
I like your line of thinking. I wish I had thought of that. Even if you aren’t correct, it pleases me to think you are. So I’m considering this one figured out. Thanks, trupa!
Paint the signs, we’re picketing, not because I agree with this, but because it’s too catchy to let it go to waste.
I won’t single out the Bush administration, but as an outsider looking in it does seem to me that in the US the word “Freedom” has become a buzzword used to justify whateverthehell the speaker happens to be in favour of. The sticker could be making this point.
Could it be some kind of a play on this:
This quote also available as a bumper sticker
I’ve never seen that bumper sticker exactly, but I had a left-wing aquaintance who made a similar argument. We were discussing redwood trees in Northern California. I mentioned that my aunt had 10 or 12 redwood trees on her property and was planning to have a few cut down to make room for a new outbuilding. She was going to sell the trees, which would more than pay for the outbuilding. My aquaintance felt that this should not be allowed. The course of our subsequent discussion revealed that she felt many things ought not to be allowed. During our debate she frequently used the phrase “We have too much freedom” – in particular, she believed that land especially should not be ‘owned’ if that meant that permanent changes (such as cutting down trees or diverting streams) could be made to it. She also felt that we should not be ‘free’ to own guns and other weapons (knives over a certain length); and she had some issues with ‘free speech’ if it would hurt other people’s feelings.
Due to this perplexing conversation, I would attribute that bumper sticker to a left-wing nut-job, since it would remind me of that particular left-wing nut-job.