Would you put a political sign on your front lawn?...

[123ducklings]

So many people has he shot in the past 3.5 yrs?

Wow, that’s a low bar

 

[123ducklings]

I don’t have anything against lawn signs or bumper stickers. For a recent local election I went out of my way to get a sign for a candidate I supported. I don’t expect the signs to change anyone’s mind, but I do think in small local elections lawn signs can help get the word out for people to do their own further research about the candidates/issues. Sadly people often show up to the polls to vote for a president, governor, or issue they care about and don’t give much thought to the other positions and items on the ballot.

 

[chemgirl]

this remins me when one of my American liberal friends was horrified our national rugby team is called the All Blacks
connecting it to something like the Washington redskins

but its just because the uniform is black as black is our national colour and most of our national sports teams wear black
if your a basketball fan we have the Tall blacks
i kid you not badminton NZ thought the black cox was a good idea ...

Ok so I find that funny. The word black isn’t racist.

My mother-in-law is a supporter of the British National Party so it’s on my radar. I thought you were located in the UK so I went off a bit. It’s a really touchy subject for us. We have almost no contact with her because of her racism.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Ok so I find that funny. The word black isn’t racist.

My mother-in-law is a supporter of the British National Party so it’s on my radar. I thought you were located in the UK so I went off a bit. It’s a really touchy subject for us. We have almost no contact with her because of her racism.

that's really sad about your mum

sometimes - and we have a centre right party here that does this (NZ first presently in coalition with the labour lead government)- but political parties can campaign on fear and hate and just in my opinion (some) older people tend to be the fearful kind - usually of change and of the unknown

i have found mixed race grandchildren can be a good antidote

i hope for your mother's sake she softens up because she is missing out on so much

 

[Maria D]

I don’t have anything against lawn signs or bumper stickers. For a recent local election I went out of my way to get a sign for a candidate I supported. I don’t expect the signs to change anyone’s mind, but I do think in small local elections lawn signs can help get the word out for people to do their own further research about the candidates/issues. Sadly people often show up to the polls to vote for a president, governor, or issue they care about and don’t give much thought to the other positions and items on the ballot.

A canvasser once told me that research has shown that, for a local election, a sign placed on someone's lawn has quite a bit of impact. It's probably for the reasons you state here. If my neighbor has a sign for someone I'm not familiar with I may be inclined to find out more about the candidate. The canvasser also said that signs placed in public places like median strips don't do much at all. So why do we see several for the same person plunked down in the same place! Thankfully campaigns in my area are pretty good about collecting signs after the election.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

A canvasser once told me that research has shown that, for a local election, a sign placed on someone's lawn has quite a bit of impact. It's probably for the reasons you state here. If my neighbor has a sign for someone I'm not familiar with I may be inclined to find out more about the candidate. The canvasser also said that signs placed in public places like median strips don't do much at all. So why do we see several for the same person plunked down in the same place! Thankfully campaigns in my area are pretty good about collecting signs after the election.

local body politics is pretty dismal here
no one has ever knocked on my door to tell me why i should vote for them

what used to drive me insane was when the labour party would canvas the neighbourhod by driving around in a van with a loud speaker

on election day here it is illegal to still have billboards up
its a criminal offence and the police do prosecute
the two main party leaders here have both said they want a clean election here but the more militant of the ranl and file menbers still stoop to new lows on social media like when someone in the labour party made a video mocking Simon Bridge' Maori accent
imangine the s##t that would go down if someone on the right made fun of an ethnic minority's accent ?

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

If I saw a British National Party bumper sticker on a car I wouldn’t feel bad about hitting it with my door (might even do it on purpose!). It’s not a radical left approach to deplore blatant racism and Neo-Nazi ideals.

Yikes! Clearly you believe you have moral high ground that would somehow justify you damaging somone else's property. Disagreeing with someone else's opinion absolutely does not give you license to be childish and destructive.

Dancing fire, no, I would not put a sign up on my home or car partly because it's no ones business and partly because of the above entitlement mindset.

 

[chemgirl]

Yikes! Clearly you believe you have moral high ground that would somehow justify you damaging somone else's property. Disagreeing with someone else's opinion absolutely does not give you license to be childish and destructive.

Dancing fire, no, I would not put a sign up on my home or car partly because it's no ones business and partly because of the above entitlement mindset.

Totally. The political party is founded on racism. Proudly displaying a bumper sticker is saying “hey look I’m a racist”. It’s telling people that they don’t belong. How do you think that makes someone feel? Totally have a moral high ground on anyone who would do that. Human garbage.

Taking the position that everyone who isn’t white and English speaking should leave the country (the stance of the BNP) isn’t a difference of opinion. It’s not a valid opinion period. It’s a human rights violation. Who’s the entitled one here?

If a slip of my hand can ruin their day, after all of the damage they’ve done to others, then so be it. I won’t lose sleep at night.

Generally I don’t have a problem with the political party that someone supports. This particular party is the issue. Luckily they don’t have much support overall.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Totally. The political party is founded on racism. Proudly displaying a bumper sticker is saying “hey look I’m a racist”. It’s telling people that they don’t belong. How do you think that makes someone feel? Totally have a moral high ground on anyone who would do that. Human garbage.

Taking the position that everyone who isn’t white and English speaking should leave the country (the stance of the BNP) isn’t a difference of opinion. It’s not a valid opinion period. It’s a human rights violation.

just imangine if back in the 30s a few more people had kicked Nazi 'bumber stickers'
maybe the final solution would not have happened

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

By that (il)logic then it you must believe it's "justifiable" for a pro-lifer, who views abortion as heinous/taking a life, to damage a pro-choicers property because they display a sticker or sign ....
But I bet you don't....

Your misguided belief that you're somehow entitled to damage property of others that don't subscribe to your opinions, is absurd.

 

[chemgirl]

By that (il)logic then it you must believe it's "justifiable" for a pro-lifer, who views abortion as heinous/taking a life, to damage a pro-choicers property because they display a sticker or sign ....
But I bet you don't....

Your misguided belief that you're somehow entitled to damage property of others that don't subscribe to your opinions, is absurd.

Try flying a swastika from your house and see how that goes for you.

Would that be wrong? Would you care if your neighbours did it? Can’t really do anything about someone’s opinion right?

Same thing.

Adding that pro-lifers damage property and block access to healthcare all of the time. I don’t love it, but they sure seem to think they’re justified. C’est la vie.

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

No, I would HATE it if a neighbor did that but that does NOT mean I believe I am now supremely entitled to DAMAGE THEIR PROPERTY because I disagree with their idiotic views...
Yet you actually believe you're somehow justified damaging the property of someone you see with a sticker or sign you don't like..

 

[chemgirl]

No, I would HATE it if a neighbor did that but that does NOT mean I believe I am now supremely entitled to DAMAGE THEIR PROPERTY because I disagree with their idiotic views...
Yet you actually believe you're somehow justified damaging the property of someone you see with a sticker or sign you don't like..

Yep. It wouldn’t bother me one bit. If someone’s views are that heinous I don’t think they really deserve to go through life without being challenged.

I personally wouldn’t cause criminal destruction (because come on door dings happen) but I wouldn’t blame anyone who did.

We’re not talking Republican vs Democrat here. I’m referring to hate symbols, which is what the BNP represents. If you display these symbols, you are hurting people. You are fine with taking away someone’s sense of well being. If you’re ok with ruining someone’s day by displaying these symbols, I’m fine with ruining yours.

It’s not “entitled” to stand against people like that. Sorry.

A door ding is miniscule compared to the harm these people cause. Maybe if enough people ding their cars and spray paint their homes they’ll keep their views to themselves.

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

So to recap, just because you feel you have some moral high ground, you think that entitles you (or anyone who shares those views) to VANDALIZE/SPRAYPAINT/HIT/DING/DEFACE/DAMAGE someone else's car or other property if you dislike their sticker or sign....

 

[chemgirl]

So to recap, just because you feel you have some moral high ground, you think that entitles you (or anyone who shares those views) to VANDALIZE/SPRAYPAINT/HIT/DING/DEFACE/DAMAGE someone else's car or other property if you dislike their sticker or sign....

Yes to recap, I would APPLAUD if I saw someone defacing property that was proudly displaying a hate symbol. If I could plausibly “accidentally” cause a little bit of damage I totally would.

Hate symbols cause harm. Displaying support for a white supremacy group is harmful. If they choose to put themselves out there and hurt other people then they’re fair game.

I made my original statements because I thought a poster was talking about support for a fringe political party with ties to white supremacy and noe-nazi groups. I apologized when I realized that she was actually discussing a legitimate political party.

I’m also not located in the US so general views are very different. For example a family moved into my neighborhood and decided to fly a confederate flag. The neighborhood associated fined them every day until they could put a lien on the property and the family was forced to move. The community snow removal and gardening services refused to work at that house and their front lawn was the communal dog poop zone. Not a single person supported that family or suggested that they had rights to express their views.

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

So, should someone be justified/entitled to spraypaint YOUR house or damage YOUR car because YOU have a sign or sticker proclaiming you're Anti-Union or Pro-Choice?
After all many believe both those stances profoundly hurt workers, and kill unborn life....They may believe that THEY have the moral superiority/"highground"...just as YOU do above....
Hmm, somehow I doubt you would feel THEY were entitled to destroy YOUR stuff, or be "applauding" then...

 

[chemgirl]

So, should someone be justified/entitled to spraypaint YOUR house or damage YOUR car because YOU have a sign or sticker proclaiming you're Anti-Union or Pro-Choice?

After all many believe both those stances profoundly hurt workers, and kill unborn life....They may believe that THEY have the moral superiority/"highground"...just as you do above....I doubt you would feel THEY were entitled or "applauding" then...

Ok so those aren’t hate symbols. They aren’t hurting anyone. If you can’t see the difference between pro-choice, anti-union and a hate symbol I don’t think there’s any point in continuing this conversation.

Also I’m not in the United States so there is no need for pro-choice stickers. Abortion is an essential medical service offered and paid for by the government. It’s not political.

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

"Hate" symbols differ just as opinions do. That's my point. Someone may see abortion/killing unborn as "hate", or being anti-union/anti worker as "hate" too. That does NOT mean anyone (including you!) is entitled/justified to DESTROY/DAMAGE someones house, car. No matter how idiotic their sticker/sign ...

 

[chemgirl]

"Hate" symbols differ just as opinions do. That's my point. Someone may see abortion/killing unborn as "hate", or being anti-union/anti worker as "hate" too. That does NOT mean anyone (including you!) is entitled/justified to DESTROY/DAMAGE someones house, car. No matter how idiotic their sticker/sign ...

Nope sorry. Google it. The term hate symbol refers directly to racism and white supremacy.

 

[chemgirl]

"Hate" symbols differ just as opinions do. That's my point. Someone may see abortion/killing unborn as "hate", or being anti-union/anti worker as "hate" too. That does NOT mean anyone (including you!) is entitled/justified to DESTROY/DAMAGE someones house, car. No matter how idiotic their sticker/sign ...

Actually cool you inspired me to look up the current laws for hate speech and symbols in my country and you can actually be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to 2 years for public expression that promote hate against a protected group. It’s also a fireable offence and employment insurance is forfeit in that case.

So no, it’s not up to personal opinion. Hate speech and hate symbols are clearly defined as causing offence and inciting hate towards protected groups like POC, certain religions, and members of the LGBTQ community.

It’s not a case of claiming a moral high ground. Expressions of hate are human rights violations and not simply a difference of opinion.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

hate speech lead to this

 

[rockhoundofficiando]

Actually cool you inspired me to look up the current laws for hate speech and symbols in my country and you can actually be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to 2 years for public expression that promote hate against a protected group. It’s also a fireable offence and employment insurance is forfeit in that case.

So no, it’s not up to personal opinion. Hate speech and hate symbols are clearly defined as causing offence and inciting hate towards protected groups like POC, certain religions, and members of the LGBTQ community.

It’s not a case of claiming a moral high ground. Expressions of hate are human rights violations and not simply a difference of opinion.

Of COURSE it's not about an official definition! Everyone's "hate" is different, that was my point. No one has justification to destroy someone else's house or car just because they don't like an idiotic sign! That's juvenile and ...absurd.
Some people see abortion as "hate", or pro union or anti union as "hate" and thus may destroy YOUR Property if YOU display opinions they don't agree with. THEY may arrogantly behave just as you think is your "right", and give YOUR car, house etc a bang or spraypaint. ...
I'm done with this convo as clearly it's pointless. One can only hope Karma visits if you or those who agree/ encourage same, ever physically act....

 

[chemgirl]

Of COURSE it's not about an official definition! Everyone's "hate" is different, that was my point. No one has justification to destroy someone else's house or car just because they don't like an idiotic sign! That's juvenile and ...absurd.
Some people see abortion as "hate", or pro union or anti union as "hate" and thus may destroy YOUR Property if YOU display opinions they don't agree with. THEY may arrogantly behave just as you think is your "right", and give YOUR car, house etc a bang or spraypaint. ...
I'm done with this convo as clearly it's pointless. One can only hope Karma visits if you or those who agree/ encourage same, ever physically act....

You’re the one who’s missing the point here...