“Yet there is something impalpable and unpleasant in the human climate of such cities as Warsaw or Prague. The collective atmosphere, resulting from an exchange and a recombination of individual fluids, is bad. It is an aura of strength and unhappiness, of internal paralysis and external mobility. Whatever we may call it, this much is certain: if Hell should guarantee its lodgers magnificent quarter, beautiful clothes, the tastiest foods and all possible amusements, but condemn them to breathe in this aura forever, that would be punishment enough.” — Czeslaw Milosz, The Captive Mind
Every so often, one is confronted by a thing that is so antithetical to one’s ideas of comity, liberty, and good governance that one is morally compelled to speak out. This sign and its brothers, which have sprouted like mushrooms across the city, are such a thing.
Why?
In short, because it is antithetical to the soul of America. In short, because it is poisonous to the soul of America.
The land? The people? The Constitution? No one can truly say what America is, no more than one can truly say what a man is. Each man has his qualities, though, and so does America. They are trust, openness, freedom, and a suspicion of power.
Someone once said that if you want to be alone, really alone, you must either move to the deep wilderness or to a large city. They are right, and part of that is because of the American soul. Walk around an American city today and take in what you see. In general, no one cares what you are doing, no one is watching you, and no one stands ready to question you about your activities. Policemen wander through the public sphere occasionally, and they do subtly change its character. People become tenser and more purposeful, and the atmosphere is less joyous and free. This is the exception, though, not the rule. We are Americans, we are America (or part of what it is). We are a good people, and we believe it of ourselves.
This sign takes the opposite view. It views Americans as lawbreakers, and encourages them to be suspicious. It encourages them to inform on each other, and so it seeks to transform the American soul from what it is now to what it would be if it were watched constantly by the state. Cleaner, maybe, but gloomy. Stronger and unhappier.
Some of the soul of America has crept into mine over the years, and so I am angered, frightened, and repulsed by this sign. Always before, I would feel angered, frightened, and repulsed by these things, but my speaking out would be confined to mutterings in my car and inexpressible emotions when I got home. Now I have a place to vent my spleen and express my rage, and I am grateful for it. Explaining my repulsion has made me think through why I am repulsed, and I no longer feel so helpless.
May this sign be recognized as a dreadful mistake, and may the man who made it be the one to destroy it! He has done harm to the world. I mean, who wants to live in the kind of city this billboard advertises? The state patrol, maybe, but probably only when they’re working.