[pct-l] Oregon Car vandalized near PCT for political reasons..

[Wayne Kraft]

Ordinarily, I would never dream of expressing my political opinions  
on my vehicle.  My political opinions are so unacceptable in so many  
circles, I fear those who disagree with me would consider my bumper  
stickers to justify not merely vehicular vandalism, but homicide  
predicated by unspeakable, interminable torture.  In this first  
amendment deep freeze, I have restricted myself to a Pacific Crest  
Trail sticker on the back of my 1989 Ford Ranger pickup and no  
statements of opinion at all on my more expensive rides.

There is one sticker, though, that I've always coveted.  It may have  
been more the context in which it was revealed, than the actual  
message itself, but I have always considered this sticker to express  
the ultimate rebellion against, well, everything that's wrong.  The  
context was this:  in about 1977 some friends and I decided to raft  
Oregon's Rogue River.  Never mind that this is considered a trip for  
experts.  Never mind that most of us had never been in a river raft  
before.  Never mind that we had allotted two days for a trip the  
professional guides take three to complete.  Never mind.  We just  
shoved off and entered the maelstrom.  Two days later, sunburned,  
blistered and exhausted we hauled out at Takilma, an obscure landing  
accessible only by river or miles of gravel logging road and there,  
parked at the side of the river was an ancient, rusted and decrepit  
Ford pickup with a bumper sticker that read:

STOP CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Now, there's a cause to which I can commit myself.  Bringing  
democracy to Islam?  Piece o' cake.  Stop global warming?  And then  
what to we do in the afternoon?  But stopping the insidious, barely  
detectable but tragically destructive movement of the continental  
land masses?  Now there, amigos, is a challenge worthy of any true  
knight, any Don Quixote.

I consider this to be the very last word in bumper self-expression.

Wayne


On Jul 10, 2006, at 4:53 PM, Tortoise wrote:

> I wouldn't calling the vandalism "making a political point." Rather  
> this
> is the vandal's objection to someone else's political point.
> If anyone is a traitor, the vandal is the traitor -- at least to our
> ideals of freedom of speech and respect for others.
>
> ----------
> Tortoise
>
> <> He who finishes last, wins! <>
>
> I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
> Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/ 
> thunderbird/
>
> Jon Danniken wrote:
>> From: "Deems"
>>> You can draw your on conclusions on this one;  there were no  
>>> thefts, but
>>> serious damage was done to their car. All they had was a peace  
>>> sticker on
>>> their car..There seems to be a terrorist behind every bush these
>> days...and
>>> your freedom of speech may cost ya if the trailhead locals  
>>> disagree.. I
>> have
>>> no stickers on my vehicle, but I freely speak my mind.
>>> http://portlandhikers.com/forums/thread/2137.aspx
>>
>> Yep, there's nuts on both sides of the fence.  I don't put any  
>> type of
>> stickers on my vehicle either, as one can't be too careful about  
>> who might
>> take advantage of isolation to make a political point.
>>
>> Jon
>>
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