Coexisting

Today, the right side of the blogosphere is very excited about a bumper sticker created by a guy named Tom McMahon.

The bumper sticker is a mock up of the "COEXIST" bumper stickers you see on the road where the word is spelled out in various symbols, including some religious symbols. Mr. McMahon's version replaces the "E" and "X" with a hammer and sickle and a swastika respectively. (In the original version, a male/female symbol and a star of Davis are used). I think Mr. McMahon's point is to say that coexisting is a nice idea, but some groups are so vile that coexisting with them is damn near impossible. I more or less agree that the idea of all of these different groups of people coming together and living in world peace is totally naive. I highly doubt that anyone, even the people who have that sticker on their bumpers believe it's likely, or even possible. But it's a sweet enough idea.

What shocks me is the praise that McMahon is getting from some blogger. McMahon is basically comparing Communism and National Socialism to the other ideas/groups represented in the "COEXIST" bumper sticker. That includes Muslims. But it also includes Christians. And most of the people praising it fall into the category of "Muslims or Christians."

There's a long string of comments over at Boots and Sabres, Charlie Sykes idiotically calls it "Pure Genius" and Peter the Hypocrite praises Tom's art project while asking what the world would look like if the greatest generation had tried to coexist with the Nazis. (Answer: Who knows, but it would look alright if the Nazis has also tried to coexist with the Jews/Poles/Brits/Russians/French/Americans/etc. Both are huge "ifs," but it's not an evil idea. Just a naive one.