The Center for Bio Ethical Reform greeted me Tuesday afternoon with the Genocide Awareness Project—a traveling circus of sights and ideas—all fitting into a single truck driven by clowns.
I am not necessarily outraged by the message or the cooption of a beloved clothing retailer’s name. I may object to the shock tactics and poor historical equivalencies which validate Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies—the longer an online discussion continues, the greater the probability of devolving into comparisons with Hitler, and in this case, the Holocaust.
Rather than continuing to debate the definition of genocide, I would like to bring attention to the truck itself. According to the CBR website, these trucks have been part of a “full-time operation” starting June of 2001. Outraged citizens have been unable to keep them off the streets, but I suppose this is because the bigger issue is being ignored—the Genocide Awareness Project employs terrible drivers.
The drivers are much more focused on displaying their roving message rather than sharing the roads with commuters. During the CBR’s last excursion to Columbus, a gray haired man with questionable CDL credentials drove a truck emblazoned with the word “choice”, a dime, and what at first glance looked like ketchup on French fries.
I am stopped directly behind it when the light turns green. As the truck passes through a short-lived green light, the driver abruptly breaks in the middle of the turn, effectively blocking the I-270 south off-ramp onto Sawmill Rd. What is this? Go! The light is green for few precious seconds. There were no cars ahead of him. I politely honked my horn. This driver was obviously insistent on grandstanding on the overpass with his new ride. He then proceeded to cut into my lane as I attempted to drive around him.
His poor driving overshadowed the cause he must be very passionate about. Rather than thinking about the message, drivers like me are now preoccupied with the nature of this man’s driving. Quit hot-dogging and drive!