I ask people with SUPPORT THE TROOPS stickers - what are you doing

[Skittles]

to support them? So far I have encountered NO ONE who does ANYTHING but support Bush and his g.d. war. NO ONE. Yes, their idea of "supporting the troops" is to sport a stupid g.d. sticker on their f***ing cars and SUVs. Just as I had suspected. :puke:

[HarrietBrown]

1. I just made my own bumpersticker that says "Ribbons Don't Support Troops,

Honest Leaders and Good Policies Do." I have a lot of driving to do today, so I am going to make another one that says something like, "$35m to Tsunami. $40m to Inauguration. WWJD?" It should be a fun day.

[MemphisTiger]

9. That's awesome

Where can I buy one of those?

[HarrietBrown]

15. I get bumpersticker paper at office max and make my own--

you can remove and reapply them, too. Because I can change them when I feel like it, I can be "topical" and it also makes me feel better to be able to make an immediate public statement of some sort--hopefully something that will make other drivers think.

[NAO]

37. Support the Troops...by Paying your Income Taxes

Ribbons don't support troops, federal income tax revenues do.

So people who vote for politicians who support "tax cuts" are voting against supporting the troops.

[bklyncowgirl]

2. Does any money from these yellow ribbon actually support the troops?

I'm talking about donations to organiztions like the USO or veterans groups.

Or are people simply profiteering off of other people's shallow patriotism?

[indepat]

3. More shallow than a saucer

[MSgt213]

5. I bet not a single penny goes any where near the troops

[Skittles]

6. the original ones did

but that company was quickly run out of business by cheaper stickers made overseas. Yeah, some patriotism.

[itzamirakul]

7. If they were using it to support the troops then

certainly we would hear some stories about them purchasing armor for the men or the vehicles or SOMETHING....Notice how nothing is said about any charitable group like this actually BUYING something for the troops?

[SammyWinstonJack]

41. At my local Bed Bath and Beyond store

if you buy a yellow ribbon for $1.99, One dollar goes to the USO, which I thought was pretty cool.

[indepat]

4. Support him no matter how many die for Halliburton el al, how many Iraqis

are killed and mained, support him without any reasoning or critical thinking as to what is being done at home and abroad.

[ulysses]

8. it's a deceptive phrase

that really means "DON'T YOU DARE OPPOSE THE WAR".

Unless you're in the supply corps, how do you support the troops?

[Kolesar]

10. I have seen the ribbons on cars with Kerry/Edwards stickers

they apparently have a much more optimistic view of the world and don't see the deceptive messaging as described by Ulysses.

[Skittles]

13. I haven't seen any with K/E stickers

and believe me, there ARE idiot Dems who support the war

[Kolesar]

16. How about "Marriage=Man+Woman" & a K/E sticker on a pickup truck

This is the trifecta of :wtf:. He also had a trade union bumpersticker on his truck that was parked at the Catholic Church on a weekday.

[ieoeja]

26. Sounds Blue Collar

Most blue collar people are socially conservative. When voting they have to choose between their bank accounts and their beliefs. As more and more Democrats embrace Clinton's move to the right economically, more and more blue collar voters find themselves with no reason to vote Democratic.

I firmly believe that it is no coincidence the fall of the Democratic Party occured during Clinton's rise.

[Q]

11. During WWII, supporting the troops meant...

...self-sacrifice: using less so the troops could have more.

But those who mindlessly display stickers on their cars probably have followed Bush's advice to sacrifice by going shopping. They probably don't see the disconnect between the troops lack of resources and Bush's billion dollar tax cuts for the rich during a 'time of war'.

[tngledwebb]

12. Don't waste too much time on the sticker mentality.

Many are misguided, but many of them probably do care about the lives of the troops, and the Iraqi civilians, and some might even want to end this 'war' now.

And not a few may have voted against their own party last month, and we must ensure all their votes will be counted soon.

[Skittles]

14. I bet you are wrong

I bet if I asked them HOW MANY AMERICAN SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN IRAQ I bet they could not tell me. Maybe I will try it.

[tngledwebb]

17. We are all in the dark about some part of the truth on any given day.

Brainwashed from birth, or in denial, or without the time and energy to figure it all out, mostly just trying to keep food on the table. But the majority of us, even Republicans, are only human and not evil incarnate.

I do not include those running the present and final BushCo regime.

[Skittles]

18. no, I mean I bet they don't even come close

a conservative at work the other day guessed "3 or 4 hundred". And spare me the time excuse; a lot of them can tell you the plot developments of many an inane TV show.

[truth2power]

19. Amen! eom

[jswordy]

20. Just attached my own bumpersticker this morning!

It says "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS -- Send YOUR kid to Iraq!"

It is now part of the catalog at progressivebumperstickers.com. It's #376. And thanks to them for printing it for me! Couple other places wouldn't do it.

They have been handing out the yellow ribbon Support Our Troops stickers at churches around here...every other car has one. I was struck by how little actual commitment it takes to slap on a yellow sticker, and that's when the words to the one I had made came to me.

[jonnyblitz]

22. ha..I like that! welcome to DU btw

:hi:

[jswordy]

28. Thanks for the welcome and...

...go to progressivebumperstickers.com and get yours! $3 shipped...CHEAP!

I have been reading this site for MONTHS...finally decided to jump in after the so-called "moderates" took over much of the other blog where I post. I can only take so much of "we need to listen to the moral values of the people from the heartland."

Hehehehe...damn, we've been pandering ourselves out of elections for 10 years now. How about we try something bizarre, and be real Democrats?

;-)

[jswordy]

29. Oh BTW, I make NOTHING from the sale...

...of the stickers.

That's full disclosure, dood! LOL.

[Malva Zebrina]

21. this has got to be one of the more clever marketing ideas

since Bush has been dirtying up the White House. It combined the desire for people to look patriotic (meaning not be accused of being non-patriotic , or treasonous, or un-American)and fully endorsing an immoral and illegal invasion of a small defenseless country that that was no threat to America, by connecting "support the troops" meme, or imperative, to that mission. Those who did not display ribbons on trees, on mailboxes or on their cars, would be assumed to be un-American.

Soon there were millions of yellow ribbons stuck on cars all over the United States, professing to support the troops, and tacitly, the war.

[Tom Rinaldo]

25. Yes.

They did it with the American flag first. Same script. Associate the American flag with Right wing causes and pro war sentiments long enough and leftists eventually started disassociating ourselves from the flag. The average person serving in the military is middle class, working class or outright Poor. It's another wedge ploy.

I support our troops. I don't support the war they were sent to fight. I have a yellow support our troops ribbon on my car along with anti war stickers. In my opinion "supporting our troops" (despite what some might choose to read into that) isn't a partisan issue, it isn't even political unless one is a literal pacifist. I like what someone said before above about ribbons don't support troops. The whole thing is stupid really but it is effective political hardball. If enough democrats put yellow ribbons on their cars along with their other progressive bumper stickers the whole thing would run out of gas, and Republicans would stop pushing it.

I remember when having long hair once meant you were anti establishment too until it simply became "cool" fashion and then meant nothing at all. (Maybe it does again now in a different way, lol, fads keep changing.)

[Malva Zebrina]

32. that is an interesting angle

one I did not consider.

I remember once when I was working in a hospital, there was a poor woman with a mental affliction, whose compulsive behavior was to hoard washcloths. They would build up and build up, and staff just kept removing them when the stash got really big.

Someone, probably a psychiatrist, came along and suggested a different type of therapy. Each day, the woman was presented by staff with a stack of new washcloths, and this went on for a while. No one removed any of them from the stash. This went on for a while, until the woman herself requested that they stop giving her washcloths and the behavior was changed.

The point is that at some point, a flooding of objects, such as the yellow ribbons, indeed reaches the pall effect in it's observers, and means nothing to anybody anymore.

However, I have to say that I simply cannot repeat that meme, I support the troops, because there is too much information sandwiched in between that statement and I abhor this war.

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

23. Try this one: Ask them to donate their frequent flier miles

Many airlines now let you donate your miles to troops so they can come home. And have a donation form ready to hand out. Hmmmm, $1.99 for an empty symbol and slogan, vs. sacrifice hard-earned precious miles? I'd love to see them squirm. And they probably wouldn't even catch the irony: their "sacrifice" of miles is nothing compared to the troops' (that they supposedly support) sacrifice of blood.

[eSTIV]

33. great idea and

Don't forget to mention what a disgrace it is that our troops even need our flyer miles because the President that flew them to Iraq issued them all a ONE WAY TICKET!

[Red State Rebel]

24. We adopted a Soldier from Adopt A Platoon program

We keep in touch with letters and care packages on a regular basis.

[Jo March]

27. But...but...but I support the troops!

See? It says so right there on my bumper!

:evilgrin:

[WebeBlue]

30. Yellow ribbons highjacked ...

When the war in Iraq was initiated, I was opposed, from day one. Being a military family with 2 deployed to Iraq, I was also in a conundrum about how to react publicly. Being a military brat as well, I am familiar with the culture of military life, and the "code" that governs that military families don't speak out against the mission, which somehow translates into not speaking out against the CIC. I was a bit perplexed about how to show support for our 2 and the troops in general, but also about how to go on record in opposition to the war and not the troops.

I found other such-like military families in Military Families Speak Out, which was newly formed and a grass-roots effort. We used the Yellow Ribbon on a Peace Sign as our emblem with the words Support the Troops; Bring Them Home Now!

I had and still have yellow ribbons on my house and trees, because my intent was to deliver a message of Waiting and Bring Them Home. I flew a flag for awhile, but was so embarrassed by B*** actions, it became more of an embarrassment than a point of pride for our own 2, that I stopped using the flag. It was VERY disappointing to see the yellow ribbons being sported by B*** supporters. And I felt that I was having to work harder to find other emblems to demonstrate my support for the troops MEANS bring them home now. I felt like the flag, the yellow ribbons, the whole patriotic emblem was highjacked and taken over by the rabid support the war folks, and I'm still not happy about the intrusion.

In my extended family (okay, they are a little naive, and not activists) who oppose the war in their own quiet way, still remember some other time when flag, yellow ribbons meant something else. They don't seem to realize that the "other side" has taken over the symbols which now mean something else.

July 4th, they had bbq and the whole red/white/blue thing. I arrived with my button Support the Troops, Bring Them Home Now, and they thought I'd be pleased with their patriotic showing. Sister was surprised that I was offended, and I explained to her that this patriotic symbology doesn't mean what it used to...now it means a show of support for B*** and B*** supporters. Well, they were hurt and said that is not what it means to them and they aren't gonna have it taken away from them.

Christmas visit to my mother's and her car is sporting a magnetic yellow ribbon. Groan...I groaned to hubby, saying "she just doesn't get it, doesn't realize now what it means to slap a yellow ribbon on her car, she still thinks it means a show of support for troops with a desire to end the war and bring them home,"

Christmas visit to my son's and ex was there, Viet vet, and he has a red/white/blue ribbon on his truck, and I know he isn't a B*** supporter.

Too long here, but my point is that while many use the yellow ribbon and flag and patriotic emblems as show of B*** support, many don't know it has come to mean that. Many still think it is a show of "their" individual beliefs rather than a show of support for B*** and B*** supporters.

[hansolsen]

31. The bumper sticker from hell --

The following is part of a longer LTE I had published in my local paper days before the election. I stand by it now:


"I am troubled by the bumper stickers that say, "I support the troops", and "I support George Bush." Those are two contradictory ideas, in my opinion. They don't belong in the same sentence. In fact, you can't jam those two ideas in the same sentence with a sledge hammer, a crow bar, and a pressure cooker. George Bush sends our soldiers into battle every day in situations where they cannot tell friend from foe, and where they must fight under rules of engagement (George Bush's rules of engagement), where they cannot fire unless fired upon first. This is insane. And it still results in untold civilian deaths. I believe this is an unjust war, and I want my grandchildren, a hundred years from now, to know where I stood at the time. I will save this letter to the editor so they know."

[ncrainbowgrrl]

34. Here's my "support the troops" image;

[Maiden England]

35. Personally I'm avoiding getting keyed.

it used to live next to my K/E sticker, now its next to my DU sticker.

I'm contemplating snagging an idea posted elsewhere and overlaying the 'support our troops' with the words 'another empty gesture' but I may wait till I can afford to have any key marks repainted.

[NE1469]

36. Kick

Kick!

[Sparkly]

38. Of course, they're not even saying THEY support the troops.

"Support the troops" is a command at YOU. ("I support the troops" would be different.)

I sure admire your courage in asking people what they do!!

[Barney Rocks]

39. I support the troops by lobbying to

BRING THEM HOME.

I do not support the war, I do not support killing innocent Arabs and I do not support anything that they are doing in the middle east where American troops should NOT be in the first place.

If the troops COME HOME I will support that. If they are sent on peace keeping missions--like in Bosnia where they did genuinely useful things like building latrines for the poor people--I support that (preferably when it is done under the supervision of a Democratic president and it is NOT done to further America's imperialistic global domination of poor and underpriviledged countries).

[AwakeAtLast]

40. Mine says "Keep Daddy Safe".

That is because he will be in Iraq soon. These yellow ribbons are actually supposed to be reminders of those who are in the war, not for those who are not connected to it. These ribbons have taken all meaning away from what yellow ribbons originally meant.

I hesitated putting one on my vehicle, but my husband asked me to and I agreed. We did not add it until he was activated for duty, though. I will keep it there until he returns home safely, and then I will remove it.