I don’t see many of these Flying Spaghetti Monster symbols on the road, but I saw this one this week. They are far outnumbered by the Jesus fish and the Darwin fish.
FSM symbol sighting
- Post author:Erich Vieth
- Post published:January 15, 2009
- Post category:Evolution / Religion
- Post comments:4 Comments
Erich Vieth
Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.
I got excited for a split second – I drive a black Scion xA and have a FSM emblem on my bumper. Texas license plates, though. 🙂 Most people around here have no idea what FSM stands for.
I bought FSM emblems for hubby and a couple of my friends. I saw one on a car with Minnesota plates once. I think it's a great way to show where you stand without openly taunting people. The way some people react, the last place you want to tick them off is on the highway.
Alison, review "Cowardly hypocrisy of Darwin fish displays" before declaring that FSM is a benign statement.
I remember that post, Dan, but I went back and re-read the thread anyway. The FSM is a bit more specific of a protest than many of the other fish-related displays, though, since it was created in response to Kansas' proposal to teach ID in school. It would be much harder to argue that the FSM is an anti-christian symbol in general – although I'm sure someone would manage to do that. In addition, since it doesn't include the fish itself, it's more difficult for the fish-displayers to recognize a connection.
It's not a benign statement, you're right. In fact, if it were a benign statement, I probably wouldn't have put it on my car. It's just less likely to make me a victim of someone's road rage than some other things I could stick on.