I find the entire idea of commonplaces and ideology to be very interesting. It is fascinating to see how much of an impact a person’s upbringing and the people that they choice to surround themselves with has on their lives. It is also astounding how these ideologies do transform as societal expectations vary throughout time. The author discusses how the American public accepted the war in Iraq in 1991 due to the fact that the president’s rhetoricians associated the war with American values (133). The next war in Iraq was not as successful because the American public did not understand the reason (134). Therefore, proving that commonplace and ideologies do change. However, I find it even more intriguing that propaganda and the manipulation of words make such an impact in our present day, technological advanced society.
Continuing on this ideology rant, the second rhetorical activity, found on pages 152-153, sparked my curiosity. The exercise encourages the participant to write down bumper stickers located on vehicles in a large parking lot. You should then try to figure out the ideologies represented through the bumper stickers. Well, I took a stroll through the student parking lot at West Perry High School at the end of school one day this past week. I checked out a variety of cars and trucks, which varied in make, model, and year. I decided to focus strictly on bumper stickers and not on the clear window decals. Most of those were related to colleges and sports teams. It looked as if some of the vehicles belonged to students whereas others gave off the impression that they may be borrowing mom or dad’s car, especially the one that stated, “I’m Proud of my Eagle Scouts.” There were quite a few “West Perry Mustang” bumper stickers, some which were generic and others that supported athletics, or the band. There were quite a few bumper stickers advertising for different car parts and brands. “Mazda Speed,” and “Flying Miata” were located on a Mazda, which was obviously not shocking. One truck was sporting a “Flomaster Exhaust Sytem” and a “K&G Air filters” stickers. “Kiss Me I’m Irish” was informing people of this student’s heritage, or else she just likes to be kissed. There was a car with the ever so popular “OBX” sticker, which you can now find with a plethora of letters representing different locations. I was not surprised when I saw a “Proud Beef Producer” sticker, due to the large amount of farms in the western end of the county. Then, exactly what I was hoping would not happen, happened. The bumper stickers found on the cars completely supported all of the redneck, conservative stereotypes that Perry County is unfortunately known for. I saw three different cars with “NRA” stickers, along with an “I’d rather be bow hunting” sticker. The “Terrorist Hunting Permit” also stands out in my mind. Finally, there were a few political stickers. Judging by the previous bumper stickers, it was not astonishing to see “Ted Nugent for President.” There was also an “Impeach Obama” one as well. Then, I was happy to catch a car, with one of my students behind the wheel, with an “Obama ‘08” sticker. I asked her whose car it was and she said that it belonged to her mother. I then asked her if her mother grew up in the area and I was informed that her mother was an immigrant from Columbia. I was hoping that it was a local with that one. So, unfortunately the cars let me down. They fed into all of the set ideologies that many outsiders have of those country kids. I am doubtful that the ideologies will change anytime soon; however, I did have fun investigating.