Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Philosophy/religion

Join our Philosophy forum to discuss religion and spirituality.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Fish stickers and people 'adding' to them

61 replies

Alwaysworthchecking · 30/09/2010 22:14

Apologies if this has been done before. I've noticed a few comments on MN lately where people have mentioned 'doctoring' other people's fish stickers, by adding legs and stuff.

I get that the fish with legs is the Darwin fish. I get that the Christian fish stickers wind people up. What I don't get is why anyone would actually go and stick legs on somebody else's sticker. Or alter it in any way.

For the record, I am a christian but don't have a fish sticker. I guess that's the same as saying that I am a parent but don't have a 'Baby on Board' sticker. I find both those things a bit...well...naff and annoying, but I also recoginise that that's just my personal opinion and have no compulsion to go and scrawl, 'Not there isn't - it's in the supermarket with you!' on the BoB yellow diamonds, for example.

It's not just me who finds the idea of adulterating someone else's sticker small minded and offensive, is it? Live and let live, and all that.

It's just been bothering me since I found out that people feel the need to go around with little packets of fish legs, that's all.

OP posts:

squirrel42 · 30/09/2010 23:15

I have a little fish with legs, carring a spanner, that says "evolve" in it. I think he's cute and it goes nicely next to a bumper sticker with evil penguins on, an "I give cyclists space" sticker and a Devon flag shaped like a cow.

Yup, my car is classy.

Original poster

Alwaysworthchecking · 30/09/2010 23:33

Ahhh - I'mm glad it's not just me (although I concede I may have been the only person worrying about it ). I'd just seen a couple of references to it in some other threads. Maybe people were just posturing.

Hmm...aggressive atheism...I've only ever come across it on here, but then perhaps I lead a sheltered life, or haven't been paying attention.

Miss Dolittle, your assessment of car stickers made me laugh. Spot on, I think.

Ah, so it is a common misconception that all Christians are creationists? I see! Where do people get their ideas from?! In reference to the 'are all fish sticker people creationists?' question, my mother has a fish sticker and prefers the Genesis account to any other theory. Dh, who is pro-evolution says he once thought about getting a fish sticker but then realised this wouldn't look good if he put two finges up at someone while driving. Indeed, dh, it would not!

I guess it's funny that some people feel the need to have their own 'take' on the fish. Something about there being no such thing as bad publicity, I guess.

OP posts:

Original poster

Alwaysworthchecking · 30/09/2010 23:34

Squirrel, 'Evil Penguins'?

OP posts:

Dione · 30/09/2010 23:50

The fish symbol is the Ichthys and is a Pythagorean formula known as Visica Piscis. It has now evolved and is a symbol of Christianity. Proof that even symbols can evolve.

SolidGoldBrass · 01/10/2010 00:03

I always heard that the unadorned Christian fish is a good indicator of a bloody awful driver who thinks that a god will stop him/her crashing and therefore there's no need to pay attention to the road.

MaryBS · 01/10/2010 08:39

You don't need a sticker to tell you that SGB! :o

I have no problem with the Darwin fish either. I saw a Tesco employee wearing one the other day. I meant to ask him about it, but we were talking about more important things :o, like how long DD was going to spend in the changing room!

Perhaps they should come up with a sticker showing both fish, saying "my other fish is also a fish" :o

squirrel42 · 01/10/2010 09:12

Alwaysworthchecking - it's a little gaggle of ever so slightly creepy looking penguins with writing underneath that says "feel the burning stare of the penguins and change your ways".

Barbeasty · 01/10/2010 17:36

I think the assumption that all Christians believe in creationism is the same as the assumption that Christians don't drink alcohol. All those monks that brew beer and make tonic wine (and drink the stuff with enthusiasm)!

Dione · 01/10/2010 21:21

Barbeasty that can be too difficult a concept for them to get into their wee monkey heads. I am Catholic, and do I believe in creationism? Do I fuck. I believe in evolution. I also believe that I don't have the right to vandalise other people's cars, regardless of what I think of their stickers.

oxocube · 03/10/2010 07:38

at MaryBS

I'm afraid I'me with SEA on this one - there are many things I worry about but this isn't one of them

Gretl · 03/10/2010 08:35

Bear in mind that all this stuff comes from the United States, where frankly if you live in a Christian area you will be questioned on your faith, and if you're an atheist you're likely to be advised on the best way to find help in accepting Jesus, you might find Bible verses on your desk, passive aggressive comments might be made, your family will most likely go on and on about it (with tears, depending on personality), you could find that you don't get promoted (or worse), and it is a very real fact that some teachers will not teach evolutionary theory etc etc etc.

In some areas there is real prejudice. A lot of people hide their non-belief and live in frustration because their society just isn't tolerant of them AND is what we would see as completely OTT in terms of everything being geared towards church, God, Jesus, prayer, etc

I am really pretty grateful to live in Britain, where if anyone asks, the worst you get might be mild surprise and a comment about Stalin, and then everyone gets on with their day, generally.

Gretl · 03/10/2010 08:37

Anyway - it does rather explain the fish legs.

oxocube · 03/10/2010 08:55

I have a very good British friend who lived in Portland, Oregon for a few years and she said that one of the first questions nearly everyone asked her was 'which church do you belong to' (in her case none which she said always raised a few eyebrows )

Tee2072 · 03/10/2010 10:03

I am finding it hilarious that that site sells legs 'in case your fish is the victim of a hate crime.'

So they are not for adding, they are for replacing.

I have lived all over the US, from north to deep south and east to west, and have never been looked down upon, sneered at, pitied, or handed religious tracts for not being a Christian. Of course, being a Jew, most of them think its too late for me anyway.

I used to have a Darwin fish on my car in the US. I also participated in Darwin 200 2 years ago.

And I am not an Atheist.

Gretl · 03/10/2010 10:14

Well, as you say, you won't have experienced it if you're not an atheist.
I only have experience of academic towns and you don't find it there much either. The stories I've heard, though...and frankly some of the people I've met: makes you grateful for the good old CofE

Tee2072 · 03/10/2010 10:20

But I'm not a Christian either, Gretl.

Oh some of the Fundamentalists are definitely scary. And fun to mess with!! evil

Gretl · 03/10/2010 10:25

No, but Jesus was a Jew - you get special dispensation!

UnquietDad · 03/10/2010 10:34

I have a Christian friend who refuses to have a fish on his car, in case people think that, as a Christian, he's going to be an especially "nice" driver.

As for "taking the piss is all they have left", it's nice if you go on thinking that

AnyFuleKno · 03/10/2010 10:35

Here is your prize for most ridiculous thread. What a load of tosh. Does anyone actually know anyone this has happened to fgs? And criminal damage? Pfft

Gretl · 03/10/2010 21:08

I don't know people who've had the legs from their Darwinfish removed....but I do know people who've been harangued in their community for their non-belief.

AnyFuleKno · 04/10/2010 15:51

well that's a whole nother thread gretl. But sticking to the matter in hand, none of us knows anyone who has either perpetrated or been the victim of sticker sabotage. The prosecution rests.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 04/10/2010 16:05

I want some fish legs

GetOrfMoiLand · 04/10/2010 16:12

lol at 'taking the piss is all they have left'

I am a confirmed heathen atheist, but I think anyone who defaces Christian fish stickers is a nobhead

AnyFuleKno · 04/10/2010 16:27

noone does it though getorf do they. Well only the sort of people who write 'Tash 4 Lee 4 Eva If Erased Still Tru' on the bus shelter.

GetOrfMoiLand · 04/10/2010 16:29

LOLOL at 'if erased still true'

Flip

1 2 3