The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
My Bumper Sticker Theory
I have a tongue-in-cheek theory I have been telling any friend of mine who will listen about lately. It goes like this: if a person has more than one bumper sticker on their car, they automatically fall into the 80 percentile likelihood of being a member of the "left-leaning nutroots".
The stereotype is not 100% foolproof; for example rabid sports fans of certain Texas state Universities (note: not necessarily from Austin, TX...) are known to decorate their autos with multiple tokens of their esteem for their team. But generally these folks are good Conservatives: if they are that into sports, it means they are into competition--the lifeblood of capitalism. Also, in extremely rural areas, you are more likely to see some "US Out of the UN Stickers" with perhaps an NRA tag or two.
But--with the preceding exceptions duly noted--in general, the more bumper stickers the more likely the person is an "extreme" type of person. And 80-90% of that set are out there on the wacky left. Just my own observations...but see if it doesn't fly for you too.
All this is preface to a post from Psychiatrist Dr. Helen Smith, regarding Bumper Sticker Personalities. She is not exactly on the same wavelength--certainly a trained psychiatrist would never resort to stereotypes. But nevertheless, her take is that bumper stickers do tell you an awfully lot about the drivers. Just be on the lookout for any car with more than one. And remember where you heard the "Nutroots" theory.
(h/t Glenn Reynolds. And don't miss their periodic team podcast "The Glenn and Helen Show", which can be downloaded at the Instapundit site.)
The stereotype is not 100% foolproof; for example rabid sports fans of certain Texas state Universities (note: not necessarily from Austin, TX...) are known to decorate their autos with multiple tokens of their esteem for their team. But generally these folks are good Conservatives: if they are that into sports, it means they are into competition--the lifeblood of capitalism. Also, in extremely rural areas, you are more likely to see some "US Out of the UN Stickers" with perhaps an NRA tag or two.
But--with the preceding exceptions duly noted--in general, the more bumper stickers the more likely the person is an "extreme" type of person. And 80-90% of that set are out there on the wacky left. Just my own observations...but see if it doesn't fly for you too.
All this is preface to a post from Psychiatrist Dr. Helen Smith, regarding Bumper Sticker Personalities. She is not exactly on the same wavelength--certainly a trained psychiatrist would never resort to stereotypes. But nevertheless, her take is that bumper stickers do tell you an awfully lot about the drivers. Just be on the lookout for any car with more than one. And remember where you heard the "Nutroots" theory.
(h/t Glenn Reynolds. And don't miss their periodic team podcast "The Glenn and Helen Show", which can be downloaded at the Instapundit site.)
Labels: American Culture, Nutroots
