Our country is set up under and around a massive asphalt grid. It seems to act like its own microcosm, with its own language and customs, or even like a rogue regime, with its own special legal status, where your vehicle is an extension of your person, where the ground is public but we all scoot around in our own private me-bubbles. Most of us deal with it on a daily basis, whether on foot, on bike, on board, or in car. This should allow for wicked empathy between people: it's one of the only things you may have in common with the public people milling about around you. And yet we not only let cultural mores of dominance and submission leak in through the panels, we seem to revel in them, amplify them, take them to their utmost extremes. Drivers hate walkers. Bikers loath cars. Pedestrians take the right-of-way they've traded for their protection and efficiency and wield it like a kite shield of invulnerability. Everyone's the victim, and everybody ELSE is to blame. Why don't we all just choose to give it up?
Of course, it really isn't that easy. I'm as guilty as the next guy when it comes to asphalt incompetency. I've forgotten to check for bikes when I'm driving. I've failed to stop at stop signs when I'm biking. I neglect to look both ways enough times and end up having to spring across the street instead of walking. And yet I get just as frustrated as my victims when someone around me does the same.
I could add to the problem. I could, for instance, complain about the woman who cut me off not once, but twice, and then faked a left turn, scraping me off on a stoplight as I was driving home from class. I could find all sorts of things to bitch and moan about. But instead, I'm going to talk about something that made me happy. Instead, I'm starting the Asphalt Allies series!
I'm going to talk about bumper stickers!!! I am still slightly conflicted about this matter. I can see how it can be douchey and presumptuous. I can understand how they can be construed as covert symbols of dominance and aggression. Yet seeing as I have five stickers on my bumper, I clearly am veering towards the "approval" camp. I've got halfway decent reasons, too. For one, I think that any form of self-expression should be exercised. If it's socially acceptable to walk around wearing messages proclaiming love for your favorite band, political candidate, or social cause on your body, then it should be acceptable to slap those same expressions on your bumper. (Some would argue that such clothing isn't actually socially acceptable, and to them I offer a challenge to argue the point with me.)
Secondly, I think it takes at least some courage to stick your beliefs clearly and prominently on your most expensive possession and parade it around town. I don't think that bumper-sticker-related vandalism happens too often, but I definitely think a car is more of a target for a random act of criminality if it has bumper stickers. And, of course, the more extreme the bumper sticker, the more extreme the reaction. Don't see a lot of KKK bumper stickers, do you? (That might be the Midwesterner in me making assumptions, though...)
More than anything, though, I think that in the long run, the balance of emotions produced by bumper stickers seems to fall squarely in the "positive" realm. It is a very utilitarian equation, the one that ends in bumper stickers=good. Now, this could come from the fact that I'm currently living in a town that is very friendly to my beliefs and ideals. It could also be that people who feel the same way as I do about issues are more prone to putting bumper stickers on their cars, and they are more likely to put more than one on as well. However, it seems to me that the ire raised by bumper stickers one does not agree with is outweighed by the sense of camaraderie generated by stickers one does agree with. On most issues, regardless of the opinion one has, one will, on average, end a cruise around town feeling like ze is in the majority...or at least that there are people like hir out there, that ze is not alone.
Now, one might think that for someone with an unpopular position on a very polarized issue, this may not be the case. However, I think the positivity effect comes into play here. No doubt being exposed to an equal number of bumper stickers that are for or against one's beliefs will have an overall positive effect, as explained above. Even something like a 1::2 ratio of for::against bumper stickers will probably end up in one's favor. On top of this, though, I think that the less popular an opinion is, the greater the feelings of camaraderie when one sees one's view being expressed favorably. Conversely, the minority may end up using hir oppression as a source of power, turning the emotions invoked when seeing hir opponent's viewpoints being expressed into a validation of hir's own views. As John Stuart Mill would express as he argues for entirely unfettered freedom of expression, it is when we hear our opponents views being spoken aloud that we realize just how foolish they are, and how right are our own.
So what does this mean, folks? If you have a passion, express it! Go buy a sticker and display it proudly! It will only make the world a happier place. Regardless of who you direct the camaraderie at, it will spray out at all who view it and give it more than a passing thought. Don't just be a boring, mindless drone. Express yourself! DO IT! Crawl out on that limb to show your fellow man what you're made of! Go out there and wear your heart on your sleeve! Just don't wear your nuts on your trailer hitch. Nobody wants to see that.
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