It's now a cliche around these parts that right-wingers "support our troops" by just slapping one of those ribbon magnets on their SUVs.
Being the good little progressive that I am, I assumed that this was just snark, and there wasn't anything to the stereotype. But, out of boredom, I started counting those ribbon magnets while driving around, and keeping track of what cars they were on....
Now, there isn't a whole lot of data here, and this isn't scientific, but it was kind of surprising. Basically, I was counting the percentage of those magnets that were on "normal" cars versus gas guzzlers - or, as George Carlin affectionately calls them, "Fuck-you-mobiles." I included SUVs, pickup trucks, and minivans. I did not count any commercial vehicles, or anything parked in residential parking (so as to avoid counting the same vehicle twice if I drove past it another time).
I don't do a whole lot of driving, but I live in Baltimore County, Maryland, very near the north border of Balimore City. So it's a fairly high-population area with a lot of traffic.
Since Monday, I've seen just 55 bumper magnets. Of those 55, 30 were on the car-boats. 55 percent. Now, I don't know exactly what percentage of cars in this area are behemoths, but it's well below 50%. 40% at the most, and probably closer to 30%.
The fact that I saw just 55 magnets in a few days of commuting and errands was surprising. They were a lot rarer than I had thought. I'll probably keep watching and counting the magnets, just because it's something to do while driving, but I figured 4 days of "data" was enough to get a reasonably random sample.
So again, it's not proof of much, but at least in central Baltimore County...if you drive an SUV, pickup, or minivan, you are in fact a lot more likely to have one of those ribbon magnets on your vehicle. There's probably something to the stereotype afterall. Go figure ^_^