UNBELIEVABLE ... but sadly not !
This is a true story … and it happened to me. I live in a small town that could be anywhere in the United States. I'm not poor but I'm also not anywhere near being affluent. My house sits close to a busy thoroughfare and in the year 2011 I had a sign on my front lawn in favor of Obama for his 2nd term as President. As soon as the results were called in that race I took down the sign.
Approximately 4 years later I stopped at a yard sale being held just 5 houses before you get to mine. I was looking over some books when the woman who obviously lived there came up to me and said “you are not welcome here”. It really threw me for a loop and I was sure I had heard it wrong. I said “I beg your pardon … what did you say?” and she repeated it verbatim. Rather than making a big deal out of it I left. In contrast to her I have made some nice neighbors and especially the family that lives across the street from me.
Fast forward to now. I no longer put out political signs but it's also no secret how I vote. The same goes for the household where the owner told me I was not welcome. They really overdid it this time though and put up a HUGE sign for Trump that is easily over 5 feet. I thought for sure that it would be taken down after Biden won but no such luck. Not only have they left it up but they have written (of course in indelible black marker) the words …
“STOLEN VALOR”.
Oh, my God, is this really America? The definition of valor speaks of courage in the face of danger but the only danger Trump faces is that people will stop believing his lies. It all fits right in with his clever take-over of the racists that abound in our country. For years they have laid low in the hopes that their leader would appear and finally their wish has come true. It is up to those of us who still love and believe in our country to reverse this course.
I pray it's not too late.
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ADDENDUM ...I just had a call from my middle son who read this post and he said he understood where I came from but that there is an actual definition for "Stolen Valor" ... it is:
"What is stolen valor? The basic definition includes the act of falsely claiming military service, falsely claiming a certain rank which was not earned, and can also include the wear or claim of certain military awards or decorations that were never actually awarded."
Well, that puts a whole new meaning to this post. I took it to be another example of their ridiculous claim that the Presidency was stolen from Trump but this shows that either they are ignorant of the definition (as I was) or perhaps someone who is NOT a Trumpist wrote it!
I'd be interested in your take on this and Thanks, Matt for educating your mother.
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posted by Goldendaze-Ginnie at 7:48 AM
9 Comments:
It is pretty awful these days. The Trump idiots in my area still have their outdoor signs posted, as well as flags. Years ago I learned not to advertise my politics. I was living alone set well back from a suburban road w/ my car parked in the driveway. I had a political bumper sticker on the car & woke up the next morning to see someone had spray-painted all over the bumper. I did help out w/ telephoning trying to help Obama but never let anyone know where I was politically in my town. That early experience frightened me because I was alone. Later I also began to receive phone calls w/ no one answering when I picked up - which added to my fright. We are experiencing a pretty severe public reaction to this past election in general.
That's scary, Regina. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. You, too, Ginnie. The rioters and insurrectionists have been way too energized and encouraged in recent years, and they are not going away just because we have a new president.
I don't understand it and fortunately in this really red area, the signs are down. One can hope that it was someone who really knew the meaning of the phrase wrote it as a slam against Trump and the sign owners were too dumb to realize it's true meaning and thought it was a compliment.
Should say the only way I knew about the saying was from a Magnum PI episode. Otherwise, I would have thought it was just one more thing they thought was stolen.
It looks like your neighbourhood is not a place to advertise your political beliefs.
We know how they mean it even if they have it wrong.
from my friend Jan in Virginia.
There are a few people here in town who still have their trump yard signs up. There are no Biden signs around, tho… Probably we all fear our houses might be vandalized… or worse. So far my Republican neighbors across the street and I remain friends and, come summer, I expect we will trade produce from our gardens as we have since they moved here.
Matt’s definition of Stolen Valor is the one I am most familiar with… it puzzled me why that was added to the trump sign except he never should have been anybody’s commander and chief. It would be interesting to know who put that on the sign and what they thought it meant.
Wonderful series of thoughtful posts!!! My nearby small town in southern MN had mostly Trump signs.Many have blue collar job at mayo in Rochester. sit in a woods about a mile from the litt town of about a thousand people, are about thirty houses rarely any poltical signs. Tw of my 5 grand children were adopted from and sent me a large black lives matter banner for my birthday have marched in Tuscon for that cause. I hung it up on the garaqe aqt election time. I noted slowy down to chec it out. The day before the election I did the circle drive arouthe the neighborhood to my utter surprise i COUNTED 3 BLM BANNERS LIKE MIN AND MORE THAN A DOZEN LAWYN SIGNS FOR THE SAME CAUSE :)
These are times when expressing our political views can be a concern given how the extremists behave. It's hard to know for sure what message that sign is communicating with the new commentary addition but it would certainly be a complete reversal from the hard core position they had. Did they see the light on Jan. 6th or not? Should you encounter them again, proceed with caution.
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