Results of My Social Experiment

Like everyone around me, I'm addicted to everything related to the Presidential election. Like everyone around me, I desperately want change to be had and America to reach it's potential as the great nation that it is. Unlike seemingly everyone around me, I do not think Barack Obama is the one who can do that. Unlike the few Republicans around me, I'm hoping to make that fact known.

See, living in San Francisco (or California for that matter) and saying you are a Republican is like walking up to Hitler wearing Star of David pajamas (Wow, it took a rediculously long time to decide what my Hitler-defying example should be wearing. For those who may be interested, earrings, t-shirt, and flag were also typed and subsequently deleted. Maybe he should be wearing all of them). According to some, the term "Republican" has sunk to the same level as words like 'Nazi', 'terrorist', 'clansman', and any of the other insane groups of people. On a daily basis, I hear sickening examples of liberal righteousness. My U.S. Government teacher, one of many examples I could bring up, likes to assume that all fifty-odd students in his class worship the Left the way he does. My annoyance at this fact is what instigated the idea of my little social experiment.

My dad's girlfriend was in Minnesota on a business trip a few days after the Republican National Convention and brought back a t-shirt that says: "I went to Minnesota to vote for McCain and Palin." I decided to wear this shirt out in public to see the type of reactions I would get.
I chose Tuesday because it's my longest day: I am on campus from 1p until 10p. (For my readers not interested in my college: I am in the process of transferring to UC Berkeley and attend the number on feeder school to Berkeley. On a daily basis, I am surrounded by Berkeley-wannabes. Seriously, I've seen enough dredlocks to last me a lifetime. If you can think of a more liberal school than Berkeley, I will give you a cookie.

I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous and shaky when I first walked onto campus. I was headed into campus for my first class right as morning classes were letting out, so there were tons of people walking towards me. I noticed stares at my shirt right away. Luckily, no horrible names or death looks followed. I couldn't tell if I was disappointed or relieved by this. I was on campus roughly three minutes before I got my first comment, and quite frankly, it surprised me. A girl walked by with two of her friends and, with eyebrows raised in genuine surprise, said, "Wow. Good for you." I had expected comments like these drenched in sarcasm, so it took me a moment to find my words once I realized that she was being genuine. I managed a stuttery "thankyou."

I didn't get any more comments for the rest of the day, but got plenty of looks. My art history teacher spent a long moment staring at it, and even smiled at me. Most people who walked by me read my shirt, and after awhile I started having fun with them by making sure I was looking them in the eye by the time they looked from my shirt to my face. I don't think my math teacher noticed, but he's a bit of a frazzled person, and doesn't notice a lot besides whether his pens are running out of ink.

By the time I got to my government class, I was confident. I'm sure it's not the big, ground-breaking deal I thought it was at the time, but I was proud of myself for going against the grain and (again, more dramatic than is probably necessary) standing up for my own beliefs. Also, as I had quietly hypothecized, my government teacher would have a negative comment. What I hadn't hypothecized was that his would be the *first* negative comment after almost seven hours of wearing the t-shirt. About ten minutes into his snore-inducing lecture, he caught sight of my shirt, stared for a good four or five seconds, and then obviously lost his train of thought because he had to stop mid-sentence and find his stride again. A few minutes later, once the customary Palin-bashing began, he acknowledged my shirt and said "oh no, please tell me that shirt is a joke." Nope. I would call him the horrible name I am thinking, but there are a couple of kids who have this blog address. So use your imagination.

Anyways, quite a success I think. Unfortunately, it was a terrifying and exhausting experience, and I have only worn the shirt to bed since. I'm thinking it's going to make the trip to Sonoma today though (yikes).