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Ribbons
Back to work today means vacation is over. I will miss these long vacations that law school provides, but I almost think this one has been too long—my brain doesn't want to return to this reality. So instead I've been reading other blogs, including second person, singular (sps), which recently featured a great little discussion of the magnetic “support our troops” ribbons I saw far too many of while driving along the highways and byways of this land. Damn those damned magnet ribbons! What do they mean? They command us to “Support our troops.” Ok. But how? By voting for and supporting an administration that lied to us and the world so it could send more than 1,000 of our troops to their deaths? Is that support? I don't get it, and I don't think the magnet-displayers do either. What do they think they're saying? If you have one of these magnets on your car, what do you think you're saying? As sps notes, the magnet lets people proudly order everyone else on the road to “support our troops” even as they make zero commitment to that message themselves:Brilliant, don't you think? Support our troops by driving around with a magnet that orders everyone else to support our troops, and if you decide you no longer feel like supporting our troops (whatever that means), just remove the magnet! Support support support! And the real genius of the whole thing is that the damned things are made in Taiwan (at least the ones I saw in stores) and every penny of profit on them is going to a handful of private individuals who don't give a damn about any troops except insofar as the idea of those troops can be exploited for private gain. Support our troops! Support our troops! Support our troops! Damned ribbons.it really makes me proud to live in america, where the demands of the marketplace and innovation go hand in hand leading us to a brighter future.... because these ribbons that you see on the back of all those cars are magnets. yes, magnets that will peel off and not leave a trace, not leave a scratch on the paint, not leave a trace of that hideous adhesive. it is such a perfect solution, because in america, ideas matter, our principles matter, and we want our neighbors to know we have the courage of our convictions as long as they don't diminish the value of our possessions.
Posted January 6, 2005 09:45 PM | life generally
Sounds like you need an anti-magnet...
I think most people with "Support Our Troops" stickers have their hearts in the right place... too bad their heads clearly aren't.
I've never gone for jingoistic sloganeering myself.
-Dave!
Question authority!
Posted by: Dave! at January 6, 2005 11:42 PM
dave --
who the heck are you to tell me to question authority?
Posted by: matt at January 7, 2005 12:00 AM
A friend of mine has been making the yellow ribbons with "Made in China" printed where "Support our Troops" usually goes. Someone, somewhere is making a shit load of money off those ribbons. Are they buying body armor and refitting humvees with the proceeds? Somehow I doubt it.
Posted by: Steve at January 7, 2005 01:12 AM
Dave!: I agree, probably everyone who buys one of these magnets thinks he/she is doing a good thing, so it's sort of unfair to criticize them. But what do they really think they're doing? How does this help anyone but the magnet maker?
I'm guessing a good number of the magnet-displayers also do other things to support the troops -- like sending support mail, maybe even body armor or contributing to funds for such things. The magnets may be a way for them to show people here in the U.S. that they care, and a sign that they're doing other things, too. We can hope so, anyway.
Posted by: ambimb at January 7, 2005 08:36 AM
i've seen cars with two or three or more magnets, which baffles me. if you support the troops once, aren't you supporting them already? it's like being pregnant -- you are or aren't -- and with supporting the troops, presumably you do or don't. adding magnets is just silly (and looks stupid).
Posted by: kristine at January 7, 2005 10:11 AM
I like the cars that have "Support Our Troops" along with a Kerry bumper sticker, or a sticker promoting peace.
I must admit that we acquired one of these magnets recently. My brother-in-law, who comes from a military family and has a brother in Iraq, put them in everyone's stockings at Christmas and I felt we should put it on the car.
Posted by: CM at January 7, 2005 10:49 AM
You know, not to put a damper on the definite air of moral superiority here, but might it be that car-magnets are preferred for yellow-ribbons for the same reason that they're used for just about any other symbol? Car magnets are essentially more permanent, retain their color better than bumper stickers, and if they don't, can be easily-replaced.
(And, as someone who's lived in places where cold climate and road salt mean taking the car to a car wash regularly, it also means you can take them off before you run them through the car wash, which is where most of the bumper stickers on my old high-school rides got damaged.)
But, you know, why focus on actual characteristics of the product when you can slight political opinions you don't like by making absurd symbolic conclusions? Sorry--such thoughts are clearly out of place here.
(Note, this post originally contained a links to Froogle, showing a number of places you can purchase car magnets, but AI's spam filter decided I was spam. ;))
Posted by: A. Rickey at January 7, 2005 01:24 PM
Check out this week's Ernie Pook's Comeek:\
Fred Milton's Car Ribbon Emporium.
Posted by: care at January 7, 2005 02:58 PM
Fred Milton's Car Ribbon Emporium is terrific! If anyone is feeling generous, it sounds like I need the "Yes I am Morally Superior" ribbon.
A. Rickey: How are magnets more permanent than stickers? Ok, you can preserve them when you go through a car wash, but the very ease w/which they can be removed seems to make them less permanent, not more. But whatever. It's not like bumper stickers are such a huge substantive leap above a magnet that there's really anything to argue about. The ribbons just strike me as a shallow and relatively thoughtless way to express an opinion that is ambiguous, at best.
And on the subject of moral superiority, it appears there's plenty of moral superiority to go around for both those who support and those who oppose the Iraq war/occupation. I think there's some moral high ground in the idea of elected leaders being truthful, honest, and open with their constitutents, rather than lying, deceiving, and acting in secret against them. You might agree. Or not. The beautiful thing is we can both be right because, in George Bush's America, there is no spoon.
Posted by: ambimb at January 7, 2005 09:15 PM
The ribbons just strike me as a shallow and relatively thoughtless way to express an opinion that is ambiguous, at best.
Let me share with you something that happened to me on a drive recently. I stopped in a gas station near Grand Rapids and (since I was filling up a van) had a bit of time to look around the lot. Across from me was an SUV--a type of vehicle I'm really not fond of--with a yellow ribbon magnet on it. After a few minutes of filling up, another guy came over from the pump and started talking to the SUV owner, a middle-aged white woman.
"Got someone over there?"
To which the woman nodded, and the two started a very pleasant and chirpy conversation about their children: where they were serving, what part of the military, etc. I won't pretend to remember the details, but it was one of the more touching moments of my vacation.
Now, I don't know what that ribbon communicates when I see it on the car of someone I don't know. I'm afraid that whatever the existence of spoons, knives, forks, or other kitchen implements in an America that apparently now belongs to one man following an election, I'm not privy to other people's thoughts. Whether something's a magnet or a sticker doesn't tell me a damn thing about the permanence, depth, or thoughtfulness of their heart. But I rather suspect that a number of military families put those on their cars for the traditional reason: because they hope their loved ones will come back. I imagine some others do so because they hope the loved ones of others come back in one piece. Maybe they don't--maybe it has something to do with the country of manufacture of the magnet. But color me chartiable to them in imagining that their expressions are no less thoughtful than mine. Maybe you know better.
In the meantime, I think about two middle-aged parents freezing in a parking lot talking about children in sun-bleached sands, and I think about the snide way you're dismissing they way they signalled each other, and I really don't give a f*** about your spoon.
Posted by: A. Rickey at January 7, 2005 09:28 PM
Also, it's worth noting that a yellow ribbon is supposed to be removable. At least traditionally, one hoped to remove it when one's loved one comes home. Given half an ounce of charity and a second's determination not to turn every act of solidarity into one of politics, you might have thought it oddly touching that these can be manufactured as magnets: after all, if they were bumper-stickers, they'd be harder to remove when the troops come home.
Posted by: A. Rickey at January 7, 2005 09:41 PM
I'm not sure how the "permanency" matters. If one puts stickers on their back window (as I do, so as not to diminish any resale value of the car further), all it takes is 1 minute and a razor blade to get rid of that "permanent" bumper sticker.
Posted by: mediocre law student at January 7, 2005 11:08 PM
Anthony: Your story about the folks in Grand Rapids sharing their worries about their loved ones over in Iraq fighting for, well, whatever it is they're fighting for, is touching. However, if all the people who bore at least one magnetic ribbon on their vehicles had loved ones in Iraq, we'd have millions of soldiers over there. I was stuck in traffic today and every car and truck around me had some sort of ribbon affixed it.
The problem I have with the ribbons is that they have the same sort of vibe as the window flags did after 9/11. Suddenly, if I didn't have a flag waving in the wind as I drove down the street I hated America and Freedom. Now if I don't have a bunch of magnets stuck to my car, I support terrorists.
There are plenty of other things people can do to support our soldiers that are pushed to the side by the media and the government. What happened to the idea of sacrifice? Never has Bush asked the American people to do anything tangible to support the troops. Instead there's an implicit appeal for Americans to consume more crap to make the economy look better.
Thankfully there are many liberal and conservative organizations asking for people to give money and send care packages. I guess it's just another part of the privatization of the war.
Posted by: Steve at January 8, 2005 04:15 AM
Steve:
"The problem I have with the ribbons is that they have the same sort of vibe as the window flags did after 9/11. Suddenly, if I didn't have a flag waving in the wind as I drove down the street I hated America and Freedom. Now if I don't have a bunch of magnets stuck to my car, I support terrorists."
As a "red state" resident who loves both America and freedom, I think you are over reaching. After 9/11 I did not put a flag or a bumper sticker on my car; I believe that you do not have to advertise that you support a cause in order to support the cause or mourn a loss.
What gets me is how self-conscious some are about what they imagine others might think about them. It seems to me that if a person has a reasonable amount of self respect, if he knows his own heart, it doesn't really matter if there is a flag or ribbon (magnetic or otherwise) on the car.
Posted by: Neal at January 9, 2005 05:58 PM
Er, another reason that the magnets work better is that, at least in Texas, there are areas where having them on your car gets your car keyed by people who don't like the yellow ribbons.
Just visiting from "Three Years" and I look around my house and see lots of spoons. Not to mention, my nephew just got back from Afghanistan ... guess you hated us for thinking of a ribbon, even if he wasn't in Iraq.
BTW, I felt it when Three Years stated:
"Yes. Because this is all about George Bush. It's King George's War, and if one of your loved ones happens to be in it, then God forbid you express support for them: after all, it's a war of a lying, deceiving, secretive president. Just like when my Mom was missing my Dad, she was actually flacking for Goldwater and Nixon."
Guess I was a flack for Nixon when I wasn't even a teenager. But I sure has heck missed my dad until he came back.
Posted by: Stephen M (Ethesis) at January 22, 2005 08:29 AM
Stephen: I'm glad your nephew made it home safe, and that your dad did too. I'm glad the ribbons have a positive meaning for you. I'm sure I never "hated" you for anything; I'm not sure what might have given that impression, but I assure you it is incorrect.
Posted by: ambimb at January 22, 2005 12:23 PM
