psychoceramics: Sign Guys and Local kooks

[Bruce Ediger <bediger @ csn.net>]

Steve Lamont's "Sign Guy" puts me in mind of a Local Kook in the town
I grew up near.  This was Kirksville, Missouri, USA,  in the mid- to
late-70s.  There was an old coot that had a fix-it shop located on a
major intersection just outside of town.  Lots of traffic went by, as
Kirksville is a hub for the surrounding even-more-rural areas.

The owner of the Fix-it shop put up one of those movable-letters signs
labeled "THOT BORD".  He would change the THOT BORD messages at least
once a week.  As I recall, every message had either a Patriotic or 
Christian theme.  In that part of the world, Patriotic means a mixture
of uncritical devotion to Conservative leaders, and a distrust of Big
Government.  Christian equates to the practices of the Southern Baptist
church.  I can recall my mom, a devout Presbyterian, getting very upset
about some of the implications of the THOT BORD messages.

I think that study of enough of these Sign Kooks would yield common
forms of behavior, and reveal underlying common philosophy or mental
illness.

On a national scale, there's a guy who travels to major televised sporting
events in the USA with a sign that reads "JOHN 3:16".  He will sit behind
home plate at baseball games so that the sign is clearly visibile when
the outfield cameras look over the pitcher's shoulder during delivery.
I've also seen him wearing a large, baggy tee shirt labeled "JOHN 3:16"
at televised golf tournaments.  When the tee vee camera pans across the
crowd, he'll raise his arms to make the message read clearly.