I like a good bumper sticker.
What makes it good? First, it has to be easy to read, in terms of font and text size. It also has to be quick to the point in a unique way. Pithy, one might say.
Back when I was editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times in Fayetteville, I'd write an occasional column about bumper stickers I'd seen around the region. The first one I cited in a column might have been "What if the hokey pokey is what is it's about?"
Some of the best are ones in which the vehicle's owner pokes a little fun at his or her own expense, such as the one that reads "I'm so gay I can't even drive straight." Or that give us a twist to a familiar trope: "My child was inmate of the month."
Others offer a public safety message: "Honk if you love Jesus. Text if you want to see him today."
I ran across a tweet the other day that said "I have a bumper sticker that says 'Honk if you think I'm sexy.' Then I sit at green lights until I feel better about myself."
Many bumper stickers are all in good fun, but as with any form of human expression, some take a turn to the dark side.
About 10 years ago, the results of a study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology took a look at the phenomenon of road rage, or violent anger sparked by real or perceived adverse conditions while driving a vehicle on a road or highway.
That study found a connection between the expression of political views through bumper stickers on cars and a driver's penchant to escalate tensions on the roads.
"The more markers a car has, the more aggressively the person tends to drive when provoked," William Szlemko, a co-author of the study, was quoted as saying in The Washington Post back in 2008.
Why? The researchers suggest some drivers have notions of personal space that encircles their automobile when they're driving. When that personal space is invaded, they are more likely to get angry. And the more a driver has used his vehicle as a message board for his views of the world, the more likely he is to sense that his space is, indeed, being invaded.
I couldn't help thinking back to all this on Friday when images of a white van (you knew it had to involve a white van, didn't you?) in Florida were being shown on TV and through online news coverage of the mail bombs sent to prominent liberal politicians and public figures.
The van's owner had plastered the van with strong messages, several in support of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. A photo of Hillary Clinton with a shooter's crosshairs covering her head. Similar target images of Michael Moore, CNN's Van Jones, A poster showing a collection of Washington, D.C. officials labeled "The swamp to be drained." A photo of people running labeled "I have a dream. Liberal meltdown: Millions of liberals cross the border illegally into Mexico to escape Donald Trump's presidency."
Authorities took the van into their custody and arrested Cesar Sayoc Jr. in connection with the mailed bombs.
I've got two stickers on my truck. One supports the Boys Scouts. The other cheers on the St. Louis Cardinals. I think the only other one I'd want might be one that communicates my pride in being from Arkansas.
I don't know what Mr. Sayoc did or didn't do. But he'd be far better off if he had applied one more bumper sticker to his van and to his life: It's one that says "Coexist."
Commentary on 10/28/2018