I was cut off in traffic earlier by a frustrated driver of a car displaying bumperstickers which struck me as contradictory in nature:
One was “WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER!”
The other was one of the usual ubiquitous Obama for President stickers (the absence of which in this town is more remarkable than the presence).
So I snarked to myself, “Um, how’s that “WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER” thing working out for you?” and “WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER, but cutting off people in traffic is?”
But then I was overcome by unwanted feelings of compassion for the foolish woman who had cut me off. I don’t normally blog about traffic annoyances, except this one reminded me that there are probably a lot of people on the left who are trapped in that same contradictory space. They voted for the anti-war candidate and they’re stuck with the same “ENDLESS THIS WAR” — the latter sentiment also being a popular bumpersticker on Obama cars.
How do they reason their way around this conundrum? I don’t know because I don’t agree with either the anti-war or the pro-Obama sentiments, but if I had to put myself in their position, the easiest way to reconcile the “peace president” with the continuation of the war would be to conclude that his hands are tied, as any president’s hands would be — because of the evil American war machine which controls everything and which must be defeated!
In other words, you have to believe that the United States is in fact evil.
Must be hard driving around in a nice car in an affluent country you think is evil, especially if you think the evil America must be destroyed, because that means you want your country destroyed. But if that happens, you won’t be able to, like drive around and cut people off, as you’d be too busy coping with all that WTSHTF stuff.
I’d hate to be in such a position.
What I can’t figure out is whether the people who think their country is evil are voting for or against their own interests. What are their interests? Do they think they are being “unselfish” by wanting to end the evil affluent America that enables them to keep going? There are so many contradictions in such thinking that I don’t know how to analyze it. And what about Barack Obama? Surely he is intelligent enough to realize that many of the people who elected him hate the country they elected him to preside over, and they are bitterly disappointed in him for not dismantling it fast enough.
Perhaps I should stop trying to put myself in the position of other people lest I have an accident.
I do kind of enjoy the endlessness of it all, though.
There are endless alternatives. Like this:
Or even this:
They’d look nice together, especially for people who don’t think that endless whining about endless traffic is the answer!