Regardless of its innocent surface, a bumper sticker including an equation with the word marriage in its left side and the components of 1 man and 1 woman united with a summation sign in its right side conveys a number of implied arguments. The overt argument of this sticker is that a legal union between a man and a woman is defined as marriage, but the form of the strict equation chosen for this statement implies that it is the only possible form of marriage, while the other forms are not admissible.
Though the statement of the bumper sticker coincides with the definition of marriage under the Defense of Marriage Act, its implied arguments concerning the inadmissibility of other forms of unions discriminates feelings of ethnical and sexual minorities. Analyzing this simple statement, it can be logically assumed that the marriage between the representatives of the same sex and marriage between more than two partners is regarded as impossible.
However, taking into account the fact that same sex marriage has already been legalized in five states, it can be noted that this argument can even not comply with the current legislation, depending upon the peculiar location. In other words, the contextual environment should be taken into consideration for evaluating at least the legal basis for making such an assertion in a specific community.
The implied meaning of the term marriage should be taken into consideration for understanding this message in its full context. Thus, along with the definition of marriage as a legal contract, another meaning of this concept as perceived by the modern community is a social union.
Then, treating the left side of the equation, namely the word marriage in its second meaning of a social union, the use of the legal restrictions for the construction of the argument would be inappropriate. In that regard, not only a same sex marriage but even a union of more than two partners justified either with religious or personal views appears as possible.
However, taking into account the strict equation as the chosen form for expressing the argument, the simple mathematical rules can be considered for evaluating the implied arguments. Thus, according to the rules of equation, the summation of other components can give the same value. It is possible to hypothesize that this bumper sticker shown only one of the possible forms of marriage.
However, then exhibiting the sticker to the wide audience as a form of expressing the views of the driver would be senseless. Thus, it can be stated that regardless of the original mathematical form of expressing the argument, the mathematical rules are inappropriate for evaluating all the implied meanings of the argument under consideration because some of them are created by the situational context and the driver’s intentions.
The role of the driver and his/her intentionality as the ethos component of the argument should be taken into account for estimating the statement. It is obvious that the argument reflects the driver’s personal views. However, the bumper sticker as the form of sharing one’s views can be regarded as the mode of self-expression.
Exhibiting this sticker to the wide audience, the driver intends to affect the feelings of the surrounding and even expects certain reactions from them. Taking into account the driver’s motives in expressing the concern, it can be stated that the chosen form of expression reduces the persuasiveness of the implied arguments.
Analyzing the variety of possible implied arguments and interpretations of the message written on a bumper sticker, it can be stated that the situational context, the background information and the ethos element deserve special consideration for interrogating the argument under consideration.