Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Bumper sticker

I think I saw the most offensive bumper sticker ever yesterday.

It read: "Work harder: Millions on welfare are counting on you."

That someone would actually put that on their car says a whole lot about where this country is headed.

Also, speaking of things I see while driving, what with those signs stuck in the ground offering mattresses for sale. Why mattresses? I don't get it.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is amazing the lack of compassion we now have as a society on the less fortunate. However, if you've had any exposure to those who milk the system, it's easy to understand how cynicism creeps in.

Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, I worked in an office in Cleveland County which accepted Medicaid for those who needed assistance. A co-worker who was pregnant at the time was told by one of her patients, "Oh! You should have had your baby while you lived at home with your mom (instead of being married & living with her husband). The government would have paid for everything, and you'd have had a built-in babysitter."

Unfortunately, the way the system works has produced at least part of a generation that takes great pride in being able to take what they refuse to earn. Obviously, change is needed.

Should those of us not currently in need of assistance SLAM those who are? Absolutely not! Who knows when we may be in need ourselves.

There is shameful behavior on both fronts...

Anonymous said...

How about the bumpersticker "Can't Feed 'em don't breed 'em."

Is that one offensive?

Anonymous said...

Boo hoo, how terrible. Please, give me a break. What is the matter with that bumper sticker? Is it not true? Let's see: I work everyday, the government steals money from my check by force (effectively stealing my labor, which is a form of slavery) and gives it to people who didn't earn it. That ought to be an outrage. I look at the welfare mentality and entitlement culture and think to myself "What is the country coming to". "Pro-Choice" is a much more offensive bumber sticker. That kind of sticker basically calls for support of murder. I don't mind helping someone, but supporting people that refuse to support themselves is wrong both to me and to them. It's time people quit with this politically correct stuff and start giving people a reality check. Like I said, I don't mind helping, but the government shouldn't be robbing me with the threat of jail, and giving what they steal from me to people that will not work. What's even worse is the same people that pay no taxes, but receive tax money from me, can vote. They can vote to take more and more of what I earn, and keep it themselves so they don't have to work. I see people all of the time cleaning the streets, emptying garbage, doing public service. Why not make some of these people do it. There is something wrong when the Star has to push these boat job applications so hard in a county that "supposedly" is in such bad economic shape. Where are all the jobless folks at? Filling out these applications? No, they are walking to their mailbox to pick up my money.

Anonymous said...

That someone would put a peacenick sticker on their car says even more. The political correctness run amok in the media says even more than that. Your paper sits smack dab in the middle of conservative country, yet the pc is just oozing from you. Have you put your application in at the Charlotte Observer or something? Take my word for it, most people are shaking their heads in agreement when they see that sticker. Maybe you don't pay taxes, or you have so much that taxes don't affect you. All I know is that it's highway robbery for the government to take nearly 40% when you consider all taxes together. That's more than the mafia gets in their neighborhoods. You are in a very small minority of people who take offense at that sticker. Most agree with it, and rightfully so. What would you rather it say. "Please work overtime. You owe people that don't feel like working a paycheck too." I know there are people who need help, and I will help those, but please don't try to make me feel bad for wanting to keep WHAT I EARN. Maybe I could afford a subscription to the Star then.

Anonymous said...

You're joking right? Come on, you are just trying to stir up people aren't you. We all know that sticker is true. The most offensive bumber stick I've seen lately is Kerry/Edwards. To be honest with you, I'm sick of people bragging about their kid being an "Honor Student at So and So Elementary School". Oh yeah, the soccer ball magnets make me sick too. Most of the parents force their kids to play soccer so they can have a magnet to put on their SUV or mini-van because that's the "in" thing to do. However, it is true that a portion of what I earn goes to support millions of other people.

Skip Foster said...

Star as PC? I would love some specific examples.


For the person who wrote: "but please don't try to make me feel bad for wanting to keep WHAT I EARN."

You obviously completely missed my point (and haven't been reading The Star's editorials very closely). The point of my post is that it's an outrage that we have reached a point in society when folks unabashedly proclaim their "welfare-ness" as some sort of a badge of honor. Yes, it offends me that I work until May every year, just to pay the taxes on my yearly wages.


Regarding honor students, I'm sorry that don't feel like parents should celebrate the success of their children. I think that's rather sad, actually. America was built on competition and success -- when young people compete and succeed it's the exact thing we SHOULD be trumpeting.

Anonymous said...

If you can't see that the bumper sticker is as cynical and down on welfare as you are, you don't deserve a job that involves working with the English language.

Skip Foster said...

Sorry, I thought (and still do think) it was a-cynical.

Anonymous said...

I've seen those bumper stickers for a while now and I always interpreted them differently that you do, Skip.

I think the attempt is to humor and sarcasm to express frustration with the welfare system. I've never read them as being a pro-welfare statement, but that's just a personal interpretation.

By the way, I like the new features on the Web site (blogs, video, podcasts, etc.) Plenty of larger newspapers don't have anything close to this - as usual, The Star is ahead of the pack.

One small suggestion: some of the blogs (including this one!) could stand more frequent updating. The more you bloggers update, the more reader response you'll get in return.

Anonymous said...

One example of PC-- The star reports that two "black" women were involved in a wreck, and then acts as if describing the the color of the people was some kind of awful thing. That's about as PC as it gets.

P.S. I was an honor student

Skip Foster said...

Thanks, Bruce, and good to hear from you. You're right -- we need to be more frequent bloggers.

Of course, I would blog more often if I weren't so busy advancing my PC agenda.

;-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for being honest

Anonymous said...

I've been trying to find a bumper sticker to put on my car that states, "Nothing like a little bit of hunger to make someone get up and go to work!" And everytime I see the sticker, "No one died when Clinton lied" I feel like I have to pull over and throw up!

Anonymous said...

For all the bleeding hearts--Even the Bible says "If a man will not work, neither let him eat"

Have a nice day

Anonymous said...

Skip:

That bumpersticker was meant to be sarcastic and point out that welfare is out of control! You can find them in conservative magazines for sale like National Review. I like the Can't Feed 'Em Don't Breed 'Em" sticker that was mentioned earlier. The point is the same - the government has become a great big nanny state and it started with Lyndon Johnson's rampant welfare excesses of the 60's. I have another good bumpersticker for you: "Vegetarian - an old Indian word for poor hunter." Learn to laugh at these things - sarcasm on a bumper is great! Skip you should do an article and invite people to send in the funniest bumperstickers to the Star - that would be humorous.

Anonymous said...

The most offensive bumper sticker I've seen recently in Cleveland county said "I eat the flesh of the living". The car also had a circular sticker like a soccer magnet with the numbers 666. My favorite bumper sticker is "God is not a Republican, (in smaller letters)and He isn't a Democrat either". I don't know about the biblical messages conscerning governement, but biblical societies took care of their poor, widowed, orphaned, and elderly. They kicked out or stoned the immoral and diseased. So, should we pay our government to pay the soldiers and pay our churches (more) to help our needy? That's the biblical way.

Anonymous said...

I know this is a very late comment. However, I believe if I were to have a cynical bumper sticker it would read, "If guns kill people, then spoons make Michael Moore fat." Who knows it may already be one. I don't remember where I heard this comment but, I think it is hilarious and very true!