# Deciphering Far-Right Wing Bumper Sticker. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 18, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230 "2006-09-18T21:00:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/21 "2006-09-19T15:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] In that case, it’s an exceedingly mealy-mouthed and hypocritical sentiment. How ludicrous is it to forbid a large group from getting married and then condemn them for having sex outside of marriage? [/QUOTE] No, I think the idea is that heterosexuals should only have sex within marriage and homosexuals shouldn’t have sex at all. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/22 "2006-09-19T15:39:19Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought they were all about ‘the children’. It’s fun trying to explain what some of their bumper stickers mean. “Daddy, what does that bumber sticker mean?” “It means the person driving that car is an idiot, darling.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/23 "2006-09-19T15:42:55Z")
And I think too many people here are giving this bumper sticker too much credit for rationality. You’re trying to figure out some real world reason that liberal politics might have promoted the spread of AIDS. But it’s an obvious linkage to some conservatives: liberals tolerate homosexuals - homosexuals exist openly - God punishs homosexuals by sending a gay plague. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/24 "2006-09-19T15:46:45Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] “Daddy, what does that bumber sticker mean?” “It means the person driving that car is an idiot, darling.” [/QUOTE] And the bumper stickers let you know that said idiot is in his or her natural environment. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/25 "2006-09-19T15:50:37Z")
“Death penalty, unjust wars, pollution- don’t Conservatives just kill ya?” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/26 "2006-09-19T16:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] In that case, it’s an exceedingly mealy-mouthed and hypocritical sentiment. How ludicrous is it to forbid a large group from getting married and then condemn them for having sex outside of marriage? [/QUOTE] I’m not sure what “mealy-mouthed” means, but I suspect I agree with you. I don’t agree that it’s hypocritical. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/27 "2006-09-19T16:17:46Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] I’m not sure what “mealy-mouthed” means, but I suspect I agree with you. I don’t agree that it’s hypocritical. [/QUOTE] [Mealy-mouthed.](http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=mealy-mouthed) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/28 "2006-09-19T16:18:35Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] [Mealy-mouthed.](http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=mealy-mouthed) [/QUOTE] Then I certainly agree. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/29 "2006-09-19T16:19:53Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] I don’t agree that it’s hypocritical. [/QUOTE] Not for everyone, but for a lot of people. If we accept as a given that gay sex is immoral and that heterosexual infidelity is immoral, then there are a lot of righ-wing hypocrites on that subject. And since most of them get their sense of morality from the Judeo/Christian tradition, heterosexual imfidelity is at least as bad as gay sex (if not more so) since it is explicitly forbidden in the commandments handed down to Moses. But if you want to claim that it’s not hypoctical as long as one keeps one sexual acts within the bonds of marriage, then you’re right. However, we know a lot of people (of all political stripes) don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/30 "2006-09-19T16:24:10Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Not for everyone, but for a lot of people. If we accept as a given that gay sex is immoral and that heterosexual infidelity is immoral, then there are a lot of righ-wing hypocrites on that subject. And since most of them get their sense of morality from the Judeo/Christian tradition, heterosexual imfidelity is at least as bad as gay sex (if not more so) since it is explicitly forbidden in the commandments handed down to Moses. But if you want to claim that it’s not hypoctical as long as one keeps one sexual acts within the bonds of marriage, then you’re right. However, we know a lot of people (of all political stripes) don’t. [/QUOTE] True, but certainly changing the bounds of the question dramatically. There’s no particular reason to believe that the person displaying the bumper sticker is hypocritical in this regard. ANY sentiment can be said to be hypocritical if the standard is _someone, somewhere, espouses this sentiment but does not live it_. I don’t think that’s a useful way to use the word. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/31 "2006-09-19T16:27:38Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] True, but certainly changing the bounds of the question dramatically. There’s no particular reason to believe that the person displaying the bumper sticker is hypocritical in this regard. ANY sentiment can be said to be hypocritical if the standard is _someone, somewhere, espouses this sentiment but does not live it_. I don’t think that’s a useful way to use the word. [/QUOTE] It depends. If the bumper sticker is taken to be a position held by “the right” or perhaps more accurately “the far right”, then we’re not talking about some obscure group of hypocrites that only represents a tiny fraction of the whole. I think that these types of bumper stickers, distributed widely as they usually are, are meant to be taken that way. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/32 "2006-09-19T16:30:49Z")
You need to a different mode of thinking to understand the ideas behind this bumper stickers. You may think that AIDS is a disease that spreads when people fail to use proper sexual protection. Some conservatives believe that AIDS comes mostly from gays (presumably liberals) deliberately infecting themselves, or at least that’s what [Drudge and Faux News say](http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/sullivan/2003/01/24/rolling/index.html). Viewed in the context of that work of fiction rather than fact, the bumer sticker makes perfect sense. (Well, except for the Euthanasia part. And the abortion part.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/33 "2006-09-19T17:21:17Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] It depends. If the bumper sticker is taken to be a position held by “the right” or perhaps more accurately “the far right”, then we’re not talking about some obscure group of hypocrites that only represents a tiny fraction of the whole. I think that these types of bumper stickers, distributed widely as they usually are, are meant to be taken that way. [/QUOTE] Really? ISTM that the idea of a bumper sticker is to personally endorse the idea offered by the sticker – to say, in other words, “The owner of this car has the following sentiments…” Again, by ascribing a sentiment such as that to a larger community, you dilute the personal endorsement and dramtically widen the field of people that must comply or be labelled hypocrites. Imagine the following conversation: Abe: “Look at that bumper sticker – save our planet, use wind power! How typically hypocritical liberal!” Bart: “How so?” Abe: “Well, he’s driving a car that doesn’t use wind power.” Bart: “Yes, but the sticker doesn’t say abolish cars – I imagine it’s advocating wind power over other forms of electrical generation, like coal or nuclear.” Abe: “Well, it’s still hypocritical - Ted Kennedy shot down wind power because the propellers would spoil his ocean view!” I trust the flaw in Abe’s reasoning is clear. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230/34 "2006-09-19T20:50:25Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] How ludicrous is it to forbid a large group from getting married and then condemn them for having sex outside of marriage? [/QUOTE] Good Lord, I agree completely with this post. Someone hijack your account DtC?😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deciphering-far-right-wing-bumper-sticker/373230.md?page=1)