In my neighborhood, some few houses post messaging meant to be viewed by their neighbors. It’s mostly cutesy stuff but occasionally it’s something more. I fly an American flag year-round. It’s not large but neither is my frontage. The neighborhood trends younger, mostly apolitical, but in a conservative county, I assume that’s the dominate feeling. Occasionally, outspoken progressivism is displayed. A relatively new household, I think a renter, is one such example. They draped a five x five foot banner across their entire lower bay window, the ‘Love is Love’ banner. There are multiple iterations of that stock signage, and it’s grown with the times; things like Black Lives Matter came with the George Floyd incident; and the pandemic, after quickly becoming politicized, became a rallying point for those that claimed only they knew true science as a way to express superiority over, and distain for, the unvaccinated. I present the neighborhood sign verbiage, annotated as I might reply to the said resident progressive…
SCIENCE IS REAL
Until it is politicized, and then it is no longer science
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Was a pretty successful extortion racket
NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL
And yet they break laws
LOVE IS LOVE
But sometimes it is only lust or a social protest
WOMENS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are human rights
KINDNESS IS EVERYTHING
Until it’s used as a trope to shutdown other opinions, then it’s just fascism
I could go into detail on all of these, but each could be a long, dedicated article. If you’re familiar with conservative commentary, you might even be able to offer your own rebuttal to each of these. I nevertheless offer up two summary ideas.
First, it has become important to speak in the most concise manner possible in the public square. The ‘Love Is Love’ propaganda banner is a successful campaign because it pares down each of the selected progressive dogmas into a simple sound byte that is not so easy for the average passer-byer to form an equally concise reply. Maybe Jane Q. Pedestrian knows they don’t feel comfortable with every idea but they might not know why and might never have the ability to articulate what is offensive in an efficient way. I offered up my own take as a suggestion. You might notice that I don’t squash every one of the propositions outright. Of course, Love Is Love if it is indeed love, but we all know that love is not always love, especially if it is something being screamed at spectators at a Pride rally, a prime usage of the slogan. Romantic relationships present a spectrum of utilities short of love. Maybe it’s housing, maybe a ready pathway to frequent coitus, maybe it pleases your alpha peers and social superiors. Maybe the notion does nothing but quiet the voices in your head. Regardless, any sensible person knows that ‘love’ is not always love.
The second thing to point out is the last statement, ‘Kindness Is Everything’. I’m inclined to think this one was not on the original version but maybe I just noticed it. Upon first seeing it, I was struck with just how expansive of a shutdown it is. The speaker, and in my local instance, the lady that occupies the home carrying the banner is saying this: ‘I’ve just presented five ideas and there is only one correct response, coded into the word ‘kindness’, agree or else. Kindness here means the agreement of acquiescence rather than the vocalizing of disagreement. Civil people agree. Civil people are kind and do not disagree. Kind people are too polite to voice dissent. Maybe you do disagree but if you are kind, you will not show it. You will smile and keep walking. You will keep your thoughts to yourself. The word ‘fascism’ is becoming further distorted every day and is now so expansive to mean any and every one not a psychotic wild progressive. My response, ‘Until it’s used as a trope to shutdown other opinions, then it’s just fascism’ is based on one of the original tenants of original fascism as practiced by mid twentieth century fascist: Only the state has valid opinions, conform, and all others must be violently silenced.
I may or may not reply directly, in person, by note, or by counter signage, to the resident progressive. I’m of a school that regards neighborhood propagandist as gauche. I believe in the public square and my neighborhood block ain’t it. Instead, I’m posting in it right now.
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