Down With Bumperstickers!

I hate bumper stickers. I hate the in-your-face way they try to push or say something, the way they show that the driver has "attitude" or "morals" or "a sense of appropriate balance between quilting and not taking quilting too seriously." These aspects of bumperstickers are annoying but not what I hate the most about bumper stickers. What I hate most is the idea that a short statement is all one needs to express one's belief, faith, ideals, or position with an argument. It is as if all arguments occur via bumper stickers:

Christ Saves!

Darwin will eat the Christian Fish

The Truth of Christ will eat Darwin

Why can't we all "CoExist"

Warning, in case of rapture the car will lose its driver

Do you see the argument in that?

Stickers like, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people," "End(less) War," "Let's Take our Nation Back," and "Abortion Kills" states broad, general statements that miss some important, key aspects of any debate:

NUANCE!

(if you put something in all caps then I'm yelling, and what better way to get across the idea of nuance then to yell it.)

If you think about it, none of these bumpersticker statements really say anything; they make broad, absurd claims that need to be unpacked to be understood. I would love to stop someone who has a "Jesus Saves" bumper sticker and ask, "Saves what? What does it mean to be saved? Who is Jesus? How do you know? Why should I care?" and so on. Obviously this goes for the political rhetoric as well. 

I have recently been reading The Meeting of East and West by F.S.C. Northrop (1946). While it is a book that is older than my parents there are some great statements concerning politics in there. In the interest of nuance I would like to state them:

Democracy… if it is to function and preserve itself must be accompanied by two conditions. The first of these was emphasized by its founders and is one of the highest fruits of democratic cultures. .. The first requirement is universal education. The second is that this education must concern itself not merely with applied science and literature and art and practical matters but also with man's [sic] basic beliefs concerning the nature of himself and his universe.

Northrop continues:

For if the inquiry with respect to the latter matters is not pursued, it is inevitable, as the increase in man's scientific knowledge alters the traditional scientific and philosophical doctrines concerning the nature of man and his universe,… that the people will be left without any knowledge or appreciation of the importance of these [politics, morality, religion, etc.] matters.

Finally:

Then emphasis upon the traditional, outmoded, moral, religious, and political sentiments will become a positive menace, preventing man from making the reconstruction in his sense of values…

(Meeting of East and West, 1946, p.101)

Naturally I had to cut a lot, so there is even more nuance missing. If you didn't feel like reading the three sections, the bumper sticker summary would be:

Learn to read long, complicated, nuanced passages!

So please, lay off the bumper stickers dealing with faith, theology, politics, philosophy, etc. Let's try to actually talk to each other, listen, and take the time to understand the varieties of different positions.

In other words: Down with bumper stickers! 

I think I'll put that on my car.