Tales of the Darwin Fish

[jamesq]

I have a Darwin fish on the back of my car.

It was literally the first thing I did to the car when I bought it - I applied it in the show room while the salesman was recording the paperwork.

I was a little worried about having it on my car. I imagined getting into arguments with humourless fundies, or having my car keyed. In nearly two years of car ownership, neither of those things have happened. In fact, the response (when I've witnessed any response at all, which is not often) to the fish has been universally positive.

I've had strangers compliment me on it and even had two different people ask me where I got it. I've yet to see them for sale in Cowtown (which may be why I get asked where to find them) - I found mine in a little subversive shop on Commercial Avenue in Vancouver (the homeland of little subversive shops).

I hope that when I finally find/buy the Pierre Elliot Trudeau as Che Guevera tee shirt I saw once on Davie Street in Van, that it too will get that sort of response. Of course, a PET shirt in Calgary might not be the smartest idea I've ever had - Trudeau's rep in this city is somewhere between Hitler and Stalin. Better then Hitler because he's the gold standard of evil. Worse then Stalin's only because, while Stalin was a vicious thug responsible for the deaths of millions, he didn't do anything to Calgary personally.

Comments

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ya-inga.livejournal.com]

"Worse then Stalin's only because while Stalin was a vicious thug responsible for the deaths of millions, he didn't do anything to Calgary personally."

You SLAY me! Thanks fer the giggle!

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

My experience with the fundies is that they're vocal and belligerent but relatively few in number, even in relatively conservative states/provinces. And most of the time, the people who have to put up with them tend to open up to people who are bold enough to be up-front progressives.

Speaking of Calgary in particular and AB in general, is it as conservative as I hear? Seems like there'd be quite a bit of difference between Calgary and Vancouver .. :)

[jamesq]

I didn't expect you to friend me back, but it's nice that you did.

I bitch a lot about them (fundies) but my personal experiences with them are few and far between (and mostly they've been encounters with the Mormon sub-species of zealot). None of my friends are particularly religious so I rarely get into arguments with them. I do occasionally get on my friends nerves with my mildly militant atheism.

Mostly I encounter right-wing wackiness literally at arms-length: When I'm reading the columns and letters in the local newspaper.

I've had no personal experience with Dominionists (though they are active in Canada in general and Alberta specifically). They're very stealthy - more so because they know Canadians have a knee jerk reaction to Americans trying to impose their culture on us. It's one of the few things Canadians can agree on.

Alberta is the most conservative of the Canadian provinces. This is especially true in rural Alberta which would be largely the same as rural Montana. Calgary and Edmonton are far more liberal. Slightly right of center for Canada, slightly left-of-center for America. If it weren't for the NEP, I'm sure they'd elect a handful of Liberal MPs in any given federal election.

Even so, there's a reason why there are variant Jesusland maps that include Alberta as part of Jesusland.

Yes, Calgary is a lot different from Vancouver. Vancouver is probably Canada's most liberal city and Calgary it's most right-wing. I've had the occasional chilly reception when someone from the left coast finds out where I'm from. They usually warm up to me when they discover I'm not a reactionary. The closest US analogy I could make would be comparing San Francisco to Houston.

[bungle-lord.livejournal.com]

I have thought that it would be cool to have both the Jesus and the Darwin fish side by side on the same car.

[jamesq]

Certainly belief in one does not preclude a belief in the other.

I have seen decals of a Jesus fish eating a Darwin fish. I like that there are fundies out there with a sense of humour - it gives me hope.

The Fish!

[nikitaa.livejournal.com]

A whole school of fish! Don't forget the Flying Spaghetti Monster Fish too!

And when you're done, your car will look just like the Glenmore Riverway Trail Interchange

[heathertree.livejournal.com]

ohhh, i want that shirt too!!!!