A moment of cowardice -- or good sense? [View All]

A few days ago, I responded to a posting about gas guzzlers with a mild story about a Hummer owner I spoke with at a gas station last week.

Running into a second Hummer at a gas station within one week is a rarity, but it happened to me this morning. (Maybe the Hummer God is angry with me. I can't help but be apprehensive, since, as we all know, things happen in threes.)

Anyhow, my Hummer encounter this morning was, at the least, unsettling, and at the worst, dangerous. I was filling up my 20 mpg Ford, and a camouflage-painted Hummer pulled up nearby. His "Support Our Troops" bumper sticker was the least offensive one. There was also a Confederate flag bumper sticker, and one that read, "Jesus Hates Fags."

My first instinct was to walk over to this knuckle dragger and challenge his existence on this planet. But I didn't. It occurred to me that he might have a shotgun in the Hummer, or a gun in his pocket. And even if I'd had a shotgun, what was I supposed to do? Shoot him?

So my bottom line question here is: Why do we take so much shit from
red-neck maniacs because of our own fears and our sense of what constitutes "civilized behavior?" These kind of people don't care who they offend. Why do we?