Monday, July 24, 2006

More from Portland and Seattle



How To Reach 100,000 People for Under a Dollar





While not quite the cornucopia of semiotic opportunities that Portland is, Seattle has some fine places for signposting. Upon leaving I found that most of the signs I'd put up on my arrival were still standing. Between Portland and Seattle I probably reached over a million drivers over the course of four days. Being very liberal cities, I doubt the text of my messages covered any new territory for motorists, but the fact of them did. When you put a sign up on the freeway it says two things: 1) whatever it says, and 2) someone felt they had the right to put a sign up that says it. If you believe your country is involved in an immoral war, this is not only your right as a citizen, it's your responsibility.



The founding fathers gave us the right to full and unfettered political speech and I'm taking them at their word: I'm allowed to speak out to as many of my fellow citizens as possible, and that includes the freeways. Basically what it boils down to is a question of power and one's willingness to simply take it rather than waiting for someone to formally grant it to you. It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission, and given that you can strike at any time, anyplace, it's highly unlikely you'll find yourself having to ask for either.




FB - 467
USA - 444

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are doing fantastic work, Freeway Blogger!

We sure would be honored to have you pose some sort of mugshot for our ImpeachBushco.com mugshot project.

mugshots.cf.huffingtonpost.com

We have a link to your brilliant freeway blogging video there.

Our goal is 10 million mugshots. Right now we have about 25 and it's gaining momentum fast.

Other freeway bloggers are welcome as well, of course! You guys are all true Americans doing freedom's work.

Camera shy? Be creative. Pose it with some flowers instead of your camera-shy face. Or some other expressive way.

Thanks for your consideration and keep up the great work!

You can also get to the mugshot project by going to: PeacePeeps.com

Anonymous said...

Hey Scarlet! It's the ECYCBT here! Your star pupils down in San Diego. Our "hollywood" sign melted in the sun, 113 degrees! But we have others that have been up for weeks! Come back anytime!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for bringing a smile this Sunday on my way to SeaTac to fly back home to NYC after visiting my girlfriend in Seattle for the weekend. I saw the Osama Bin Forgotten sign just south of downtown on I-5, twas great.

Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the layout of Portland's freeways. That's my real home and I miss it terribly.

Freewayblogger said...

Wow... Sunday you say? I put that sucker up on Friday, and it was by no means a discreet posting. I'll definitely be visiting Seattle again.

Doug said...

I saw it on Saturday.
By the way, If you don't have an overhead projector you can still blow up a font really huge on your computer screen and then just trace around it. You just have to keep move the image and the paper around around a few times. Tape helps, and be careful not to mess up your screen.

Anonymous said...

The founding fathers could also spell.

semiotic,cornucopia,up on should be upon, the fact of them (facts)

But, hey, idiots can spew their verbal feces too.

Freewayblogger said...

Wow. I don't think I've ever seem a more ironic trolling on the internet: everything the above poster thought was spelled wrong was spelled right... grammatically correct too. And ending with "idiots can spew their verbal feces too." Can't do better than that folks...