Bumper sticker virtue
17 years ago, I worked for an organization called the John Birch society. The Birch Society is among the more polarizing political organizations in the history of the United States, although at the time that I worked for them in 2005, they were not nearly the potent force they were in the 60s and 70s. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of most of the controversy they stirred until after I had resigned my gig with them in early 2006.
At any rate, one of the sayings that I heard from one of the leaders of the organization had to do with bumper stickers. He said something along the lines of “if you have one bumper sticker on your car, it means you’re concerned. If you have two bumper stickers, it means you’re an activist. If you have three or more bumper stickers, you’re a kook.“
I have often referred to that same when I see bumper stickers on peoples cars. It’s very easy to make some sort of virtue signaling statement by putting a sticker on the back of your car, and quite another to actually live the virtue that is being signaled on said sticker. Just the other day, I saw a sticker on the back of someone’s car that had something to do with recycling plastic bottles, and it said something along the lines of “live clean.“ And then I saw the owner of the car standing next to it, way overweight, cigarette dangling from her mouth.
Say what you will about her lifestyle, at least she recycles her Mountain Dew bottles.
Actions speak louder than words. I think I saw that on a bumper sticker the other day. It’s easy to grandstand morally on Facebook, it’s quite another thing to actually show moral courage in real life. Moral courage requires one stepping out of their comfort zone, even challenging Their own preconceived notions of what is right and wrong. Sometimes what we were taught is right is right isn’t actually right. Or a better way to say it is what we are taught is right is not the only way to look at a issue, a set of circumstances, etc. One could even argue that the fact of recycling Mountain Dew bottles is immoral, and they would not be wrong. It’s because we all view the world, we view what is moral from our own background, our own perspective.
It’s what makes podcasting so attractive to so many people. It allows the little guy to say what they believe to be true and have other people listen to it. This is what I love about my work, I help people “speak their truth” into existence. While that catchphrase may be fit for a bumper sticker on the back of my car, there is real action that goes into producing an audio show. We have a couple of openings for new clients, and if you’re interested in learning more about starting your own show, give us a call.