This huge billboard stands very close to the Texas-New Mexico border line - on the Texas side at Farwell Tx, First Baptist Church, and nextdoor to Clovis NM where we are at present. I see it as tantamount to hate speech and reckon those who are displaying it should be forced to take it down. There's something almost as obnoxious on the other side of the board - about Islam and Sharia Law. When we get home I'll consider writing to the New Mexico Governor or a Senator or Rep about it. It's on a busy road frequented by tourists from all over the country on the way to or from the many joys of New Mexico and/or Colorado.
Ye gods!!
Click on it if you can bear to see a bigger version.
Ye gods!!
Click on it if you can bear to see a bigger version.
Well, I'm part of the "Godless Socialist Democrats and Liberal Left" crowd...proud of it, too. They left-out Pagan.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, I drove by Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church compound in Topeka, KS, and thought I was going to explode. Their fence is a continuous billboard of incredibly offensive messages. I went from calm to full adrenaline overload in seconds. It's a good thing I didn't have any Molotov cocktails on me...LOL.
It's part of "free speech" and they won't take it down.
Here's "10 Most Absurd Right-Wing Christian Billboards"
http://www.alternet.org/belief/10-most-absurd-right-wing-christian-billboards?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark
My fav is: "You Can't Hold Hands With God When You're Masturbating"
The response: "You can't masturbate with one hand: This ad applies to people who either have one hand or require two hands to masturbate."
P.S. - It's not too late to buy a couple of paintball guns...you and anyjazz on a midnight mission. Be sure to let us all know what jail you'll be in tomorrow.
ReplyDeletemike ~ They might try to claim it's "free speech", but I believe they've gone too far on this one, by naming specific groups.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Paintball guns, hmm - but a Texas or New Mexico jail doesn't appeal. We've already been stopped by police officer this trip, for speeding - yesterday - doing 60 in a 55 zone. Kindly officer left it as a warning only. :-) I think he was just trying to justify his job - adding one more to his list of "catches" in small town W.Texas.
Thanks for this link to lists of billboards. LOL!
Back into TX tomorrow I think.
5 May celebs coming up in NM & no doubt likely to fill up motels and put prices up.
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ReplyDelete(Anyjazz)I saw it too. It goes too far. Free speech is one thing, common decency is another. It's a hate crime.
ReplyDeleteAnyjazz ~ The "message" appears to be signed by "God". Who delegated these people to speak for "God"?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that known as blasphemy?
Whatever it is it ain't funny and needs to be stopped.
Hello to you,
ReplyDeleteI'll start by saying that I am generally very conservative; however, I am pro-choice, so I am not on here to defend the message displayed by the billboard.
I only found your blog because I live in Clovis and was looking through google images for Clovis images about a totally unrelated subject, but noticed the picture of the billboard. After reading the comments on here I was very tempted to just "X" out and leave, but thought that maybe you may read my comments and consider them.
My thoughts on this are pure and simple: It's a message they paid to put on a billboard and it doesn't violate any laws. Period. It's too bad that someone may be "offended" by it, but oh well. If someone doesn't like it then pay the owner of the billboard even more money and they'll put your message up instead. Or, put up another billboard across the street with your counter-message. Either way, just because you find it hateful doesn't mean it's illegal. I hear disgusting, hateful, filth filled rap music on the radio as I surf channels all the time... I change the station and problem solved.
I am a straight, white male, but I believe as long as you don't infringe on others' rights you are free to do as you please. Although it is contrary to common belief, the right to never be offended is NOT one of your rights as a human.
Why not practice "coexisting" as so many people are trying to push on others nowadays? Mike wrote that the Westboro Baptist Church is lucky he didn't have a few Molotov cocktails as he went by. All I can say is, "WOW!! And this guy thinks what a billboard said is out of line?!?!" Mike also hinted at committing Criminal Damage to Property (the actual name of the crime in NM) just because someone is offended by a billboard!
Where does the hypocrisy end? Please, consider another option when driving by a billboard you don't agree with in the future: Saying, "Screw them dumbasses, they have to live with their ignorance, not me." And continue driving. That's what I do.
Jimmy
Anon/Jimmy ~ Thank you for your comment - I might not agree with your views, but am still glad to receive opposing opinions here, as long as they are reasonably courteous.
ReplyDeleteI do not intend answering your comment point by point - I'm well aware, thank you, of how to co-exist with people whose views are opposite to my own - I live in Oklahoma!
My opinion remains as stated, and should I see another billboard I don't agree with I shall feel free to express my feelings on my blog, as well as saying whatever I feel like saying as we drive by (likely to be too rich to include here).
Oh, that billboard makes me so proud to be a Texan! (insert eye-rolling sarcasm here)
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm losing count of the things which make me embarrassed to be from Texas: former Governor Rick Perry, all the Bushes and Shrubs, DOMA I and II, current Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.... It just goes on and on!
However, I agree with Jimmy, et al, about the notion of free speech, and how important it is to respect (and protect) that right, even when I disagree with the opinions being expressed. As was said many years ago:
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
I don't know that I would willingly go to the mat for the right-wing nut-jobs who put up that billboard, but as a military veteran I guess I did stand ready to "defend to the death" their right to be right-wing nut-jobs.
None of which in any way impacts your right to say what you will, here on your blog or anywhere else. Even if it's "too rich" for print, you have every right to say it!
Bill J from Austin ~ Hi there! Thanks for popping in and commenting.
ReplyDeleteI respect your point of view, and to some extent agree, and am thankful myself for the US military who allied themselves to Britain in World War 2, without whose help we would surely have been in a dire situation, and I'd probably be speaking German now.
Freedom of speech is important, of course it is. If that billboard had stopped at the declaration on the right-hand board I'd have accepted it without comment - we see such boards all over the place in OK, TX and elsewhere. It was the left hand side of the board that got me going - still would if I had to drive past it again. Accusing, en masse, "Godless socialist democrats and liberal left" is unacceptable on a public billboard. If said between individuals, or among colleagues, friends, and is overheard by someone who disagrees - that's another matter. In my opinion, one is not free to make wholesale public unfounded accusations as is done on that billboard. I don't think that is what you fought for.