Okay, here we go with some Fun Joke Signs.
On Bennett’s side:
- something something “Racist”
- If Gay Marriage is legal, how will My Marriage survive?
- Born Again American
On the anti-Bennett side, with Sparrow:
- Leviticus Also Said “No Shrimp”
- What do we want? Time travel! When do we want it? Whenever!
Bennett’s opener is a reference to the time when conservatives pretended to be furiously concerned over wearing flag pins. Wells’s opener (changed in the remaster to replace something more generic) is from the famous Lauren Morrill tweet.
The audience question (and that’s a cameo of Elisa, from Leif & Thorn) is a purposely non-serious word-salad.
The debate!
Moderator: Our thanks to both candidates for joining us in this town-hall debate. And thanks to WSMR for hosting the broadcast.
Joining us today are the incumbent, Republican Arthur Bennett . . .
. . . and the challenger, Democrat Dana Wells.
The protestors:
Sign-holders: Grr . . .
Opening statements:
Bennett: . . . and my opponent couldn’t even be bothered to wear a flag pin!
Wells: I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people.
Questions:
Audience member: What are you going to do for same-sex student loan marginal tax rate exemptions?
More questions:
Moderator: Miss, please introduce yourself.
Sparrow: Gasp!
Some of those “Fun Joke Signs” are more serious than others. I’ve seen people at actual protests, though not on the side they really supported, with “Something, something, racist” signs. I’ve actually seen the “If gay marriage is legal how will my marriage survive?” sign multiple times. I only talked with one of the people holding such a sign. Her situation was very sad.
Finally, the “also said no shrimp” sign has been totally legitimate on at least one occasion. It was a dispute in which I couldn’t agree with either side, but I could at least get along with the people on the “also said no shrimp” side. For them, it was not the substantive issue, but rather the one that they felt they could raise and get support on, as their opponent was being objectionably harsh regarding every other rule from Leviticus that they didn’t feel they could get support opposing, including one that was detrimental to their candidate and just as outdated. (To be clear, it was another “thou shall not eat” law. If I recall correctly, the person I knew from the precinct did not state which other food it was, just that it wasn’t pork. Reviewing https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8846735/wwilkenfeld.html?sequence=2&isAllowed=y and what I remember hearing of the opposition candidate, I’ll guess scallops, which would be hilarious because it’s made illegal by the same clause.)
I think coming up with fun joke sign so crazy noone would actually use them in protest would be quite a challenge.
Even the time travel one is unlikely to be used only because time travel is rarely related to any political topics, not because it would be too crazy.
PS: After all, in China, BLANK PAPER is a symbol of defiance against the Communist Party.