Do You Have Any Signs in Your Yard? On Your Car?

How does everyone feel about the trendy “Yard Art” that is decorating the lawns of America these days? By that I mean all the yard signs in support of a particular presidential candidate. There’s so much of it… if you’re like me, you’re sort of numb to it by now.

It recently got me thinking… And now I’m trying to figure out:
1) the “type” of people who are more or less likely to post such signs in support of someone or something;
and
2) the “strength” of such messages in the end.

What about on your vehicle?… Anyone got any of those magnetic yellow ribbons that say, “Support Our Troops” on your car? Again… just pondering the point of those types of things.

Obviously, it’s similar to all the American flags that decorated every inch of personal property after the tragic Sept. 11th events. And, yes… it was REALLY cool that the entire country came together as one and proudly showed their support for the USA. But when it comes right down to it, what made the 9-1-1 messages so poignant for me was their diversity… the wide VARIETY of unique statements that were being displayed. Each got me to think about the issue in a different light, so I was able to find some (small) value in that.

While Jim and I aren’t typically inclined to go gang-busters over any particular person or thing enough to display our feelings on pieces of our personal property (such as our house, yard, or car), I’m wondering what drives people to do so… And what are they achieving after all?

While things like political signs and bumper stickers are, in fact, completely harmless in every way, I’m simply questioning the point of jumping on such a bandwagon. I mean symbolism is EVERYWHERE these days… do we really need to add even MORE signs to our visual repertoire? And does it all have to be so boringly identical? Doesn’t the message actually get diluted after some point? And what is that message anyway?

For example, does the fact that there are more Bush/Cheney signs than Kerry/Edwards signs in my neighborhood have anything to do with the simple fact that someone from the Republican party recently went door-to-door and handed out the signs to those who would take them, rather than the fact that there are more supporters for Bush than Kerry in my ‘hood?

All I know is that my next door neighbor recently put up a sign in support of one of the presidential candidates, and now I find that I’m thinking about that neighbor in a different light all of a sudden. Not in a BAD way… And not in a GOOD way… Just different. But I don’t WANT to form opinions about people based on stupid yard signs!

Besides, since we’re seeing it everywhere these days, doesn’t there come a point when so MUCH symbolism actually dilutes the issues that these symbols were meant to stand for in the first place?

In my opinion the BEST symbolic messages are those witty one-liners overheard in day-to-day conversation, on the TV news one day, or printed in the headline of a newspaper. Because they’re so unique, their point speaks louder to me.

You’ve got to admit, your message is clearer if you’re riding around with a bumper sticker which reads, “Another Veteran For Kerry” than if your vehicle has the same old “Kerry/Edwards” decal that half the neighbors on the block have on theirs!

I’d rather see tons of individualized statements for or against someONE or someTHING, as opposed to all the mass copycatting — where everyone buying the same stickers and saying the same boring thing. The message gets diluted that way, to me.

Just my thoughts for the day…