But at the supermarket I saw a bumper sticker that said, "My Son Went to Iraq so Your Kid can Party in College." It annoyed me on several different levels.
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
What? That's just wrong. I can't believe someone had that on their car. I agree - wrong on so many levels.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I guess I'm dense. What's wrong with it?
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
It is ignorant, for one. It is basically a "My sone is better than your son" sort of thing. I wish people outgrew that sort of stuff in grade school like I did. Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
Actually, if you think about it in the only way that it's actually true, it's a kind of clever indictment of the class disparity in our armed forces. I think it'd be better as "My Son Went to Iraq so Your Kid Could Fly a Silver Spoon for the Air National Guard."
Of course, if George Bush had to send rich people's kids into Iraq, he'd be facing a much larger crapstorm as to his deceitful and incompetent handling of things.
---
Syn, It isn't exactly ridiculous, but it is kind of silly. Why waste the energy caring about the stupid things that people say. You'll run out of energy long before the world runs out of people saying stupid things.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
Well, it certainly doesn't make sense. Our freedoms in the U.S. were certainly not contingent upon ever having sent soldiers to Iraq. Germany, sure. The Pacific, yeah. But our kids here could party in college just as much if we had never gone to Iraq. So the bumper sticker is stupid, I'll give you that.
I still think "My kid beat up your honor student" is more offensive.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I would too, if I didn't see the irony in it. I usually like scarcasm.
I guess I see that more as a poke at people who have those bumper stickers in the first place than as actualy advocating violence. Posted by tern (Member # 7429) on :
Hey, it can't be any worse than the "Abort a Conservative" bumper stickers that I occasionally run into at school. At least there is some wit involved.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Originally posted by tern: Hey, it can't be any worse than the "Abort a Conservative" bumper stickers that I occasionally run into at school. At least there is some wit involved.
I would be a little offended about that one too, I think, although not too offended. I try to save my energies for things that I can change...all too often other people's ignorant behavior isn't one of those. Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
QUOTE: Actually, if you think about it in the only way that it's actually true, it's a kind of clever indictment of the class disparity in our armed forces. I think it'd be better as "My Son Went to Iraq so Your Kid Could Fly a Silver Spoon for the Air National Guard."
Indicting the class disparity in the armed forces is one thing, but that battle ought not be fought with bumper stickers insulting parents and students who are real people, not government tallies or case specimens for study, people who confuse a class of people with a single person need some perspective... fairy cake anyone?
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
"Let's bring your kid home so our kids can party together."
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
as an aside, since it came up, a USA today editorial on class disparity in the armed forces:
Print up a card and stick it on the window of the irritating car.
Card to read: "My son partied in college so he could send your son to Iraq" G Bush Senior.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
<snort> Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
quote:Of course, if George Bush had to send rich people's kids into Iraq, he'd be facing a much larger crapstorm as to his deceitful and incompetent handling of things.
Of course, since every member of our armed forces is there of their own volition, neither GW nor anyone else has any say about their social cross section.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: "My son partied in college so he could send your son to Iraq" G Bush Senior.
Wha? Gasp! HA!
That is so PERFECT! Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
Dan, come clean the hot chocolate off my screen. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Very amusing Dan.
Also, to imply that all kids in college are just partying, implying that it's better for young people to be off in a war than getting educated, there's more too... grrr.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Dan: Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
Syn, I understand. I have the same problem. I hate when people are stupid like that. And as much as I tell myself that they're not worth thinking about or getting annoyed over, I can't help it. Why can't people actually think about what they're saying by putting up stupid bumper stickers like that? It bothers me just as much as it does you. Can't offer any advice, though, since I suffer from the same problem.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
quote:And as much as I tell myself that they're not worth thinking about or getting annoyed over, I can't help it.
Yes, you can. You may be going about it the wrong way, but not getting upset about stuff like this is well within your capabilities.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
May I say that, while the bumper sticker is the most sactimonious of this type I've seen (the only one I like is "my kid beat up your honor student"), there is a certain difference between kids who go off to school and party on mom and dad's dime and kids who step out and spend a few years in service of their country (often to earn their way to school) and that, while not in this particular fashion, that difference is worth noting at times, without being lynched?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Bumper Stickers are best ignored.
They're the "Daria" of slogan transfer methods. Pithy remarks, but no true substance.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Not everyone in college is there just to party on mom and dad's dime, whether or not parents are paying for college.
-pH
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Didn't say they were, pH. But some unquestionably do... and perhaps I should have Youth isn't always wasted on the young. And some of the hardest partiers are also some of the hardest workers. Any generalization is flawed, but that doesn't mean that drawing contrasts is always useless...
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
If you play a trick on reality and idealize one side of the coin and let the other side remain as it is, then the bumper sticker makes sense.
Military recruitment rates suffer in good economic times. This is generally known as a fact. Now given that, it makes one question whether the military is, as a whole, an organization of selfless citizen-soldiers first striving to help their country by sacrificing their time, livelihood, sweat, and possibly even blood.
However, we all know that's not actually the case. There are many, many people who join the military solely to get job training and insurance and for some safe adventure, and their biggest sacrifice comes in boot camp and leaves just as quickly.
Which is almost identical in many ways to the reasons most people have for going to college. However, if you look not at them but the Pat Tillman's (easiest reference I could come up with), the sticker does make a very good point: my kid served others while yours served himself.
It's a bumper sticker. Like most, there are grains of truth in its words. This one has bigger grains than many bumper stickers I've seen, and it certainly shouldn't be discounted.
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
Puffy Treat, I would like to just say "What Puffy Treat said," but your name stops me!
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Jim-Me, what makes this bumper sticker annoying is not that it points out that some young adults serve their country well, and others are just party bums. It makes the assumption that any kid not serving their country well is a party-bum.
It also makes the assumption that if there were no war in Iraq, then those bums would not have the freedom to be bums. Apparently our invasion of secular Iraq is all that stopped us from falling under the sway of Islamic Extremists like those in Afghanistan.
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
Although I personally hate bumper stickers I agree with much of what you said Rakeesh. However, I would be very suprised if even 1 person in 100 put the amount of thought you just demonstrated upon choosing to display or read a bumper sticker. Also, there is a sense arrogance in both the wording of the statement and the decision to advertise such a statement that I find incompatible with the idea of selfless service.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
"If you play a trick on reality and idealize one side of the coin and let the other side remain as it is, then the bumper sticker makes sense." -Rakeesh
this is just plain silly, insulting people doesn'nt make sense, you didn't read the middle of the thread, we talked about how screwed up and unfair it is to even make these assertions
Posted by Chreese Sroup (Member # 8248) on :
I fail to see how the two are related.
Invading another country and 'liberating' it is not the cause of my personal freedom to do what I want. My freedoms are already established by a document called The Constitution. It's a shame that people don't realize what they truely have.
Power comes from the people, so it should really read: We are in Iraq because, "The People" don't know how to take the power back.
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Dan, you have a second screen to clean, and it's located in FRANCE! You'd better hurry, the journey might take some time. All joke apart, Dan, I love you, in a very platonic way. You never fail to make me laugh and it's a very good stress reliever.
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