A Hot Topic

The trip started out innocently enough; or as innocent as a shopping expedition specifically to acquire vampire paraphernalia can. My 3 year old son and I traipsed into our local Hot Topic to pick out a Twilight t-shirt for me and a friend. After we’d chosen out shirts (mine, and hers), I went looking for a store employee to ask about some lapel pins I’d seen on their website. I found both a you man and woman having a heated discussion as they arranged various body piercing decorations. I was going to interrupt, but then I tentatively overhead “Obama....liar....”, and I couldn’t not listen. The young woman, who, if I was judging strictly by appearance, should be an Obama supporter, went on to say that Obama was not an American, and that’s what we needed for a president. That was ridiculous enough that my face started feeling hot, but she continued. She said, “Someone should really just kill him before the election”. My face was so heated that I was starting to sweat when I heard the young man say, “If you gave me the right tools I’d do it myself!!”. I pulled my son closer to me and asked politely for assistance with something, but then I couldn’t speak.. I was so appalled and baffled when they made eye contact with me that I just stood there, holding my baby’s hand, looking dumb.

After a good 20 second I asked about the pins. The man led me to the counter with a much too stern look, and I walked around to thumb through the pins. I wanted so badly to say something. I wanted to admonish them for speaking that way in front of my child, especially when most of their customers are in essence still children themselves. Greedily, I dreamed of asking for an accurate count of the bands represented through t-shirts and albums who actually supported John McCain. In my own head, I ask if they knew their lifestyle was a direct opposition to everything McCain stands for. Did they think that he would appreciate their painstakingly crafted tattoos that ran up and down their arms? Was their carefully culled persona of a “punk” or “goth” something they were willing to just throw away?

When we got home I searched under every possible topic for other McCain supporters who fit the profile of the employees in the Mall. My searches all came up empty, with maybe two random single sentences of support by someone who called themselves a “hard rocker” or an equally anti-establishment label. I did, however, find this quote from McCain 2002 memoir, “ ‘A rebel without a cause is just a punk. Whatever you're called - rebel, unorthodox, nonconformist, radical - it's all self-indulgence without a good cause to give your life meaning’ ”. In this instance, Mr. McCain was actually right. I know that with very few exceptions, McCain supporters would be as disgusted as I was by my experience. A self-indulgent outer facade doesn’t make up for a lack of understanding of what this election truly means to all citizens.

After two days of inner-dialogue, I opened the sack from Hot Topic to pack a Halloween gift for my friend. I picked up the pin and the irony was so funny I couldn’t contain myself. I ran to tell my husband my discovery, laughing and slapping my hand across my forehead. In two days I hadn’t been able to understand how those people felt cared for or bolstered by McCain’s policies when their choices are something that McCain himself clearly wants nothing to do with. Looking at the pin I understood. It read: “Stupid Lamb”.