Reclaiming Jumbo

[snurri]

My mom saw the sticker on my laptop, of a pink elephant wearing sunglasses, and asked why I had it. "I like elephants," I said. "It makes me think you're a Republican," she said. Now, my mom knows that I am not a Republican. We talk politics all the time, in the half-hysterical way of people who agree with each other and can't believe that EVERYONE doesn't. (On the few topics where we do disagree, we generally say very little. I can't figure out if this is a Norwegian thing, a German thing, an Irish thing, or just a Thing That Is Done In My Family.)

Anyway, I wonder if this is the message I am sending to people when I take my laptop to a coffee shop to try to fool everyone. "I support the president! Ask me how!" That would explain some of the looks.

What upsets me most is that the elephants do not deserve this. They have always had female presidents, they have socialized medicine, childcare, and education, and they hold all property in common. In political terms they are radical matriarchal socialists, which makes them pretty much too far left to be Democrats, let alone Republicans.

I don't know what the sunglasses mean, though.

Comments

[rsheslin.livejournal.com]

I can see the avoidance of disagreement as possibly Norwegian -- at least, according to my Garrison Keillor-informed opinion -- but Irish? I sincerely doubt it.

And I believe that the sunglasses represent an attempt at anonymity showing that they, too, are embarrassed by their association with the Republican party.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This is exactly how my Norsky relatives talk politics.

Although there are a few awkward moments when someone realizes that the other person has left the realm of EVERYONE who agrees with them, because my God why wouldn't you, on this particular issue.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

I had someone close to me ask recently if I was uncomfortable that my landlord had an American flag in front of the house.

Semiotics is a bitch.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

The pink elephant doesn't say Republican to me. It says gay Republican.

(I think the not saying much when you disagree is more a "I like this person and don't want to get into a fight with him/her" thing more than an ethnic trait, though I could be wrong)

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

It never would have occurred to me that you were a Republican.

[ellen-denham.livejournal.com]

The sunglasses just mean they're cool.

A REAL republican would never display a pink elephant.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you are very heartable.

[jonhansen.livejournal.com]

Pink elephants? To me that means you drink a lot.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I've never gotten this. I think "Republican" when I see an elephant curled up around the stars and stripes. Otherwise? They don't own the flag, and they certainly don't own the way-cool animals.

If I saw you with a pink elephant on your laptop, wearing sunglasses, it would make me smile.

If you ever made me smile. Which you DON'T.