what does it mean?

[cos]

Please comment on this post before you read anyone else's comments.

This weekend, I saw a bumper sticker that said,
Straight, White, English-Speaking
Proud American
For a moment, I was offended ... then I started thinking of several different possible intentions, meanings, and contexts for this slogan. After a bit of confusion, I settled on curiosity. What does it mean? What did the people who sold it intend for it to convey, and what did the person who put it on their car intend to say by it? I can think of several different possibilities or nuances, and maybe there are more.

So tell me, what do you read in this bumper sticker slogan? And if, like me, you see several possibilities, which one came first, before you thought about it?

Comments

the difference

[antimony.livejournal.com]

I'd say the big difference with the Straight/Mono/Vanilla button is that such folks were having to put up with Actual Crap TM at Arisia, while Straight English-Speaking Males in this country don't. (Both of those are debatable points, of course.) Also, Arisia is supposed to be an SF con, not a bi/poly/kink con, and I think trying to keep it on-focus is a legitimate goal for someone to have.

My instant reaction to the bumper sticker was "bigoted asshole". On further contemplation, it's "obnoxious idiot" because he doesn't understand the priviledged position he has in society.

Re: the difference

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

actually, straight english speaking males, in particular at arisia and such, do get Actual Crap...

cons attract "weird" people. weird is good. put enough of them together and you start getting patterns. people are social. it doesn't matter that arisia is a sci-fi/fantasy con, slowly adding more media than pure literary, people are still social animals. as such, they're going to flirt and stuff. a large many of them long haired hippy weirdo sci fi lovers are also overlapping crowds of many sorts, especially including those of various kink, sexuality, etc etc etc. can' avoid it. it's like trying to separate salt from ocean water with a feather (ooh kinky).

back to the Actual Crap tm - people get all huffy when they make advances, and are rejected, and some of them get downright irate when it's because you don't love them because of some trait you don't embrace yourself.

a LOT of people think those vanilla straights are just WEIRD and need fixing. they're perfectly happy being vanilla and don't wantto change. you've seen the phrase "i'm a poly, but not with you?" well, how about "i'm vanilla but not with you"...

just be excellent to each other :)

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Re: the difference

[antimony.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's what I *meant*. The "straight white males" just don't get crap in day-to-day American life, whereas mono/vanilla folk at Arisia do. Thus the button at Arisia seems reasonable, while the bumper sticker seems bigoted.

I do think the Arisia button can also be interpreted as a commentary on what Arisia should be about -- should it be a little about SF, a lot about socializing (in many forms, some sexual, some not), or more about SF.