So, now the guy across the street is complaining about my signs

[Ian David]

See prior threads:

Today, my nextdoor neighbors complained about the signs on my yard
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1446289

So, one of my neighbors called the cops to complain about my signs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1417691


The guy across the street is a great guy, who's been full of helpful advice about my recent home disaster. I like the guy, and don't want to piss him off.

Yesterday, he was outside and said, "Ian, your signs are very obnoxious!"

I said, "Yes, I know. But they won't be there much longer."

"Well, you don't have to look out your window at them."

"Actually, I do."

"When is the trailer going? Let me guess... still waiting on a check from the insurance company?"

"Yep. Everything inside has to be mold tested."

"That's what I thought. That's probably filled with all the damaged stuff."

And this morning, he shouted (not particularly angrily, mind you) "Ian, those signs are obnoxious!"

And I replied, "I'm sorry. But today is their last day. Does that make you feel any better?"

"No."

"Sorry."

Well, I suppose if he won't feel any better if today is their last day, I may as well keep them up, right?

But I did compromise with my wife, and I told her that today would be the last day for the signs.

Here are updated photos of my installation of political art:


New signs:





Here is the side facing down the street:


Here is the side facing directly toward the road:

[Gman]

1. I wonder if Ann Coulter's book is obnoxious to them

[Tsiyu]

2. I think your signs are awesome

:yourock:

and i'm sorry you will be losing them.

Save the pictures cuz you are making history.

You are one of the select few people in the States with the courage and the concern to spread the message. The people who dislike your signs show how much we need those kinds of messages out there. Yes, they make people uncomfortable. Yes, they go against the proclivities humans have to hide their heads in the sand.

But you display your thoughts anyway, and that is the bravest act in this crazy world.

You've made people squirm and you've made them think.

:thumbsup:

[wndycty]

3. Ian, it seems like your wife has a problem with the signs too. . .

. . .I don't live in your neighborhood so I really don't know, however I could see why your neighbors, regardless of their political beliefs, want the signs down. I'm your side ideologically but I would not want those signs up in my neighborhood. Sorry but that is how I feel.

[Ian David]

8. I agree. I need more attractive signs...

I'd be happy to post someone's new-and-improved designs in the place of my crude, hand-lettered signs.

I was thinking of buying one of those "Church Signs" where you can change the letters around.

But, as Marshall McLuhan said, "The Medium is the Message." A crudely lettered sign written in magic marker carries a completely different message than the exact same words, in a slick Madison Avenue ad in The Wallstreet Journal or a on a neon billboard in Times Square

That's what makes my signs "Art."

The crudeness, the ugliness, the "guerrilla advertising" nature of the installation is part of the message.

[niallmac]

4. Your neighbor is offended by suggestion U.S. is a police state so...

they call the police.

[skipos]

5. Personally, I'd prefer signs that maybe have a chance of changing

people's minds for the better. These signs will make people who already hate Bush happy, but I think most others will react against them. I don't think signs like this will entice fence sitters to come over to our side, in the same way that Rush Limbaugh doesn't entice fence sitters. In my opinion, your signs are preaching to the choir.

That's just my 2 cents, and your goals don't have to be the same as mine. Obviously you can do whatever you want in your yard.

Good luck with the neighbors!

[Warpy]

6. I suspect the guy across the street

was "encouraged" by the first guy, the one who called the cops because your signs made him exercise that vestigial organ between his ears and made it hurt.

Chances are guy #2 isn't offended by the sentiments as much as he's just annoyed by the signage, itself.

In any case, those signs have now been seen by thousands. They've served their purpose.

You did a great job!

[bahrbearian]

7. The only thing obnoxious in your yard is the Trailer.

[Ian David]

9. I'm paying $80/month the trailer. I want it gone more than my neighbors do

Unlike my neighbors, not only do I have to look at the trailer, but I have to pay $80/month for the privilege. And, it blocks my driveway. I hate the thing more than they do.

[bahrbearian]

10. $80 a Month

Thats cheap, I'd find another * hater to rent it too. Then you can tell your neighbor its out of your hands.

[ProgressivePatriot]

11. Great Signs.

I wouldn't take them down until after November elections.

[EFerrari]

12. Ian, I'm going to miss your signs.

Where did you get that REALLY BIG paper?

[Ian David]

15. You're welcome to have them when I'm done with them, or make your own

I get the giant paper at CVS.

For more ideas:

http://www.FreewayBlogger.com

Please, take my angry memes out into the wild and let them spread.

I've gotten the best feedback from, "Republicans are just Nazis too lazy to march."

Although my favorite is now, "'Pro-Family' just means HATE without the HOOD."

I think the burning letter "T" is a nice touch, but if I were a better artist, I'd turn the letter "D" in "Hood" into a little Klansman hood.

Because, after all, Repukes need to be hit on the head with a message-- you have to catapult the propaganda right into their faces-- before they understand something.

[EFerrari]

17. I generally just wear slogans because my block agrees with me.

But, it sure does get red fast once you set foot outside the city.

Two years ago, we were at a benefit/ fair and I wore my "war" red circled and slashed T. Didn't think about it very much. Until I was walking around trying to find lunch between sets and noticed a general chill all around me. This is in an upscale community south of San Francisco that I won't name (San Mateo) and there were VFW personnel there that day.

Well, they had their uniforma and I had mine. Luckily, the lady handing out the food liked it. Whew.

:)

[Ian David]

20. I like to wear my "Unsaved" hat to the County Fairs...

Purchased from Landover Baptist Church years ago.

[bluerum]

13. I like the "Repubs are lazy Nazi's" poster! But I have to admit - the

whole affair is pretty ghetto looking.

Maybe some nice slick repub style posters would suit your neighbors fancy.

[Ian David]

18. Well, I just noticed (and fixed) a mispelling...

"Important" has an "M" in it.

Damn spellchecker on my magic marker is so unreliable.

[MsUnderstood]

14. I would complain too

Those signs are unattractive, mis-spelled, improperly punctuated, and plain ugly.

You don't change minds by being a jerk and basically telling the neighbors I don't care what you think.

And why do you have to clutter the forums with double posts?

I don't know if it was in this post or the other but the information you got from voter registration logs, its wrong. As a democrat you should value privacy not exploit information.

And now you've said you told your neighbor you'll take them down but you may not-how is that honest?

[Ian David]

16. I intend to keep my promise to take them down tonight before bed

[havocmom]

19. Put one up quoting the Bill of Rights

and start asking grumblers why they hate freedom :evilgrin:

[Ian David]

22. Well, if I was a neighbor complaining about the signs...

I might say something like, "Well, as much as I support your right to have those signs, I really hate having it in my back yard. The same way Ted Kennedy is in favor of renewable energy, but doesn't want a windfarm in HIS back yard."

If I'm going to have an argument-- or dialog-- with the neighbors, I'd rather it wait until after I have voluntarily taken the signs down on my own, on my own schedule... (well, my own schedule as negoiated with my wife) and not on their terms.

It's my Exit Strategy.

[gratuitous]

21. The proper response to "your signs are obnoxious"

"Thank you!" Just giving back a little of what our country's leaders have given out so generously. A little "trickle down" theory of your own. Good signs.

[Ian David]

25. Well, I think I have an idea to kill a couple birds with one stone...

I've been thinking about my "Exit Strategy" here, and the fact that I have to try and create a new "Unity Government" among my neighbors before they show-up with pitchforks and torches.

I might need their support, after all, when Halliburton feels ready to fill all those detention camps they're building.

So, there are several factions-- those who agree but hate the signs, those who disagree and hate the signs more, those who like the signs and agree, those who don't care or haven't noticed (??) the signs... and my wife, who is just about ready to nail me to the trailer in place of the signs.

I was thinking of using this as an opportunity to write a letter of apology to my neighbors for the inconvenience and eyesore of the signs, after I have removed them.

And then, in that letter, also expressing some of my views (albeit more politely) in a way that is more of a dialog than a tit-for-tat response to the Republican nastiness.

The idea is that the letter will contain the following parts:

1) I'm sorry if anyone found my signs to be inconvenient or to be an eyesore (while being careful not to apologize for the message or for actually posting the signs).
2) Say why I felt it was worth it, and important for me to keep the signs up for a short time.
3) Explain how I was responding "in kind" to the ugliness and hate that I see from the other side. every day, when they have much larger, much louder forums than my signs, yet are paid for through my taxes.
4) Point out that many people on our block, in our schools, and in our families have much worse things directed at them made all the worse because they come from those who are turning hateful rhetoric into policy. Talk about Coretta Scott King.
5) Express my concerns in terms of compassion and tolerance and patriotism.
6) Apologize for any negative impact, thank them again for their understanding and indulgence.
7) Postscript: (The Postscript is the most frequently read paragraph of any political letter, and the most important). I will close with Rev. Martin Niemöller and urge everyone toward solidarity and unity. Imagine if, just for once, all the scapegoats stood together as one and said, "Never Again!"

The hard part-- keeping it under one page long.

I'd be happy to have some help from my fellow DU'ers on the letter.

See also:

First they came...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First they came... is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) about the quiescence of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

<snip>

The version inscribed at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts reads:

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

[DesEtoiles]

23. I have "War Stops a Beating Heart" on my car

I hope to piss off as many as possible

[Ian David]

24. Well, since I am not a pacifist, nor a conscientious objector...

while I agree with the sentiment, I really don't have the right to use that one myself.

I support SOME wars-- just not THIS one.

Actually, I supported this one from the day Collin Powell stood in front of the United Nations and showed us "Mobile Weapons Labs" (but it turns out Powell and Bush KNEW were really Saddam's Porta-potties). I stopped supporting the war in Iraq the day I saw the looting of the museums and the alleged "weapons sites," and then I knew we'd been fooled.

However, I'm thinking of making something that says, "Iraqis have fetuses, too," or perhaps, "You can't be Pro-Life AND Pro-War."

Others I came up with:

"If every child deserves a Mother and a Father... then why do we keep sending the Fathers off to war?"

"Peace is Pro-Family."

Feel free to "steal" and use any of these. Just send me a free t-shirt and bumper sticker if you make any money on them.