Magnetic Ribbons & Plastic Bracelets On Board this Bandwagon

Question posed to me:
I feel I have missed the reason for your agitation over the ribbons. It seems to preoccupy your commute.

Answer(s):
I have two agitations over this. Do you really want to know?
Yes, I am blasting away on these two, and Yes I am generalizing, and Yes I know that not everybody is guilty of these offenses: There are many, many, well-meaning, kind souls out there that this does not apply to. But most people probably are guilty.

Agitation #1 is over the fact that while the original intent behind the first car-ribbons was good, Support Our Troops, the whole thing has gotten silly with all these other ribbons out there. Fine, you buy a breast cancer pinkie for your car, half the $ goes to research. Great, you gave a whole couple of bucks and now you get to feel better about yourself and slap that ribbon on your car to show what a generous person you are. I don't think breast cancer survivors have a massive ribbon on their cars. It's the same thing with these damned Livestrong-descendant bracelets. It seems like everybody is capitalizing on the ribbon and bracelet deal and our lemming-like mentality of late, and it's grinding really hard on my last gay nerve.

Agitation #2 is that it seems that some people slap a Support Our Troops ribbon on the car as a way to belong to something larger than themselves, and a convenient way to be patriotic during difficult times. Or, in my opinion, as a placeholder for thought. I mean come on, who doesn't support the troops? Seriously. How many of these people put in cash for things like phone cards for them to call home, and such? How many wrote letters during the holidays? I did both, which is far more supportive than a $4.95 magnet on the back of my car to display what a good person I am. A magnet on the back of a Mercedes doesn't do much to help the men and women on the ground. Instead it sends the message of blind faith in our leadership. If you rattle about the leadership, you are suddenly interpreted as hating the soldiers. That's crap. I support the troops by trying to do a little for them, but I do not support the people that send them there so lightly.