Commie Bastard!

This is the long version of an LTE I wrote about the incident on Monday when almost home from my trip. I sent it to 2 local papers along with an abridged version. I felt I needed to do this to get some closure on the situation. I hope it gets printed but I expect it not to.

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Hello fellow citizens, my name is Becky and I am 23 years old. I grew up in S.H. and have lived all but 2 years within the city. The following happened on Monday the 11th. This is the first time I have experienced such a confrontation, and I feel I need to share it with my fellow citizens.

I just spent the past week in the Appalachian Mountains for a final summer road trip. It went splendidly until I got an unwanted “welcome back” in my home town. I was in the vicinity of M and * Rd. when a sporty little silver car with a McCain sticker on the bumper passed in front of me. Nothing unusual, until the driver of the car stuck his arm out the window and gave me a big thumbs down sign for about half a minute.

I knew what it was about and it had to do with that McCain sticker. Or, rather, it had to do with a very rude and ignorant person who immaturely felt the need to disagree with my political leaning. See, I have the tailgate of my Ford Ranger covered with stickers. Most are fun things with no meaning really, though if you saw it you would guess I was more of a liberal leaning person (and I am). I only have one sticker that is for any type of politically related cause, otherwise I have one that promotes the “coexist”ence of fellow cultures and my pledge to the planet. I have no stickers for any political candidate or party.

It did not end there, however. Maybe I should have let it be, but emotion got to the best of me and I went up beside this person, who seemed to be around my age, and rolled down my window. I informed him that “This was America, it’s called freedom of speech...” While I do realize and agree that my freedom to have messages of tolerance and the need to “hang up and drive” on my tail gate is the same as his freedom to give me a thumbs down, he took his freedom a little too far. In response to what I told him, he called me a “Communist b--”... well, let’s just say it wasn’t very friendly. And then he zipped off.

Seriously? Did that really happen? I just traveled near 1000 miles round trip and this is what I get when I come back to S. H.? I was in no way personally offended, but rather perplexed and in shock that someone in 2008 would say such a thing and be so outright rude to another person. Politics aside, I thought we as a society were beyond immature name calling and the forgetfulness of the fact that America IS a Democracy on which a basis is the freedom to have opposing views. We have the right to have those views and to share them through various venues (bumper stickers included). Freedom of speech guarantees that, and is one right America prides itself with having. But apparently we all still don’t have the right to be respected by fellow citizens. Intolerance still exists, through acts like the one I encountered and much worse. And I wonder, when will it stop?