Stupid Slogans
Coexist. It bugs me. You’ve seen the symbol on cars where the word is spelled out in various religious symbols? It grates me. Not only is it simplistic and stupid but such an ideal accomplishes nothing. All you’re saying is exist at the same time and place. No real effort at, you know, solving the centuries old reasons about why they want to kill each other in the first place. Just be groovy. Hit a bong while you’re at it.
Equally stupid is the concept of tolerance. All tolerance means is to put up with. No effort made at understanding or doing anything of substance. For fuck’s sake, I tolerate spiders. It doesn’t mean much.
More my style:
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| From Political |
July 21st, 2010 at 11:46 am
I like it–that’s as good as my wife’s “Celebrate Diversity” handgun t-shirt.
July 21st, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Yep, the people with that sticker are taking action against a percived problem by doing NOTHING. Hell the gunnie versions are just as silly (which is the point) as I personally actively discriminate against many gun makers because I personally value some makes over others.
The “Coexist” bumper stickers show an avoidance of critical thought in my opinion.
July 21st, 2010 at 12:08 pm
The one you have there is my wallpaper on my personal laptop. Have to get it on my work computer…
July 21st, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Where can I get the gun version of the Coexist image?
Serious.
I have cash money burning a hole in my pocket.
Suggestions for easy ways to get the image onto a bumpersticker?
July 21st, 2010 at 12:51 pm
There is such thing as too much tolerance.
July 21st, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Excellent post.
July 21st, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Those stupid, preachy stickers annoy me, too!
So, I put one of these on my Dodge pick-up:
http://patriotshop.us/images/coexist-sticker-lg.jpg
I hope it makes the “beautiful” people cringe when they see it!
PS. This is not spam. I do not work for nor am I compensated by the website at that link (sorry if posting the link violates your blog rules). I bought three and gave the extras to friends. I think these stickers are a hilarious retort to the self-righteous, do-gooders that have the stickers with religious symbols.
July 21st, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I don’t tolerate spiders or other biting insects – like communists.
July 21st, 2010 at 3:27 pm
You already posted about this –> https://www.saysuncle.com/2010/04/16/need-a-bumper-sticker/
July 21st, 2010 at 4:21 pm
I don’t see the problem you all seem to have with the “Coexist” bumper stickers. Isn’t it essentially saying “Love thy neighbor”?
July 21st, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Jay, have you given whirled peas a chance?
July 21st, 2010 at 6:25 pm
No. It’s saying don’t kill him. Nothing about being nice and all of that.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:24 pm
The part of the Coexist sticker that pisses me off is the moral equivalence implied. Only one religion is going around blowing people up.
If you want to make a statement that might result in peaceable coexistence, tell the Muslims to stop trying to kill or convert everybody else.
Christians can be annoying, knocking on your door and preaching the good news, but if you slam the door in their face they don’t make death threats. If they are good Christians they won’t even mutter under ther breath. We (evangelicals) are charged to spread the word, but we are not held to account for those who do not wish to hear it.
July 21st, 2010 at 11:36 pm
I still think you all are reading too much into it. It’s a message of peace. It’s not particularly deep — it’s a bumper sticker!
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:38 am
The problem with the people that preach tolerance, when they say tolerance, they don’t mean tolerance, they mean acceptance.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:09 am
I used to have a little framed statement on my office wall.
“I believe in ‘tolerance.’
Consider yourself ‘tolerated.'”
They tell me that in some actions, tolerances greater than .008 may allow the bolt to come out of battery.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:22 am
This is my wife’s car. I have one on my truck too but it’s raining and I don’t want to get wet to take a picture of it.
http://totheegress.com/coexist.jpg
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I don’t really care which bronze age writer people follow. And as for “only one group”, I think the ratio of dead Christians to blown up Muslims in Iran and Afghanistan seems to make that statement doubtful. But, as Arnold said “they were all bad”.
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:55 pm
The whole problem with the “Coexist” bumper sticker is the mindset behind it.
It is typically displayed upon bumpers of cars owned by folks who are totally liberal, open-minded, above-it all, and simply superior.
They, themselves have no belief in any power in the universe greater than their oh-so-smart selves (what could be superior to themselves, after all?), and they indicate their superiority to all religions and belief systems by lecturing us knuckle-draggers to get over the silly idea that there is any supernatural component in the cosmos at all, much less any interpretation or concept of it worth getting upset over.
Typically, for the folks who display such bumper stickers, showing tolerance and acceptance means thinking exactly like they do.
Disagreeing with them means you are closed-minded, xenophobic, and also probably racist, sexist, homophobic, and you like to kill baby seals and puppies.
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I know that this is a bit late, but I just saw it today.
Stopped behind 2 cars that were side by side. One was a Prius that had a “Palin 2012” sticker on it. The other one was a jacked up 4×4 that had a “Spill baby Spill! Stop offshore drilling!” sticker on it.
The people in the other cars were probably wondering why I was laughing so hard.
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:42 am
While chatting online at random with some college students who happened the coexist poster on their wall, I showed them that firearms version–they said it was a “way to pervert the message” and they disconnected upset.
Tolerance? Yah, right.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I’ll take the smug, self-righteous commandment to “Coexist” seriously when the displayers thereof preach their message in Saudi Arabia and China. Until then, they’re only earning my contempt.