OK, lets start out with the assumption that it does not matter who you or anyone else supported in the last election or what your politics are. If it happens, hypothetically, to be the case that a vulnerable person feels threatened by some sort of bully, wouldn’t you like that vulnerable person to know that you are an upstanding citizen of good character who is willing to stand up for that person? This is especially true if you are a teacher, or you work in a retail business, or any place where there might be bullies and victims.
One way to convey your willingness to stand up against bullies is to were some kind of button or pin or label or something that says something like “safety” on it. And when you think about it for a second, why not just wear a safety pin???
Most of the safety pins we had around the house are tiny and nobody would see them if I wore won. So I found some larger ones on line.
The really big ones start to look a bit less like regular safety pins. May be it is a good idea to wear two. I don’t know.
Anyway, here is what I found:
This is a 3 inch steel safety pin, shiny, pretty obvious, large, and comes in a package of 122.
It is listed as: 12pcs Silvery Extra-large 3″ Steel Safety Pins – Blankets, Skirts, Kilts, Crafts
Something that big might have the downside of damaging the clothes it is attached to. On the other hand, it is so large you can probably sew it onto something, like a hat. Or attach it to your car. Let me know if you have ideas.
Here are some even larger ones, but they look even less like safety pins.
Then there are these, which look like normal safety pins, but they are not as large. Listed as: Set of 100 Extra-Large 1-3/4″ Safety Pins
This might be ideal for a teacher, who might wear it as a lapel pin or small broach. It won’t be noticed from across the room at any particular instant, but the teacher’s students will by and by see it and know that this teacher is on their side in case of any bullying, regardless of what the nature of that bullying might happen to be.
By the way, the wearing of safety pins to signal opposition to racist abuses started in the UK after Brexit, according to this.
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Thanks for posting this. People need to see it.
Something that big might have the downside of damaging the clothes it is attached to. On the other hand, it is so large you can probably sew it onto something, like a hat. Or attach it to your car. Let me know if you have ideas.
Magnets. Sew a pocket on the inside of the garment at an appropriate spot. Slide one of those circular rare-earth magnets into it. That should hold a steel safety pin fairly securely and yet allow it to detach if you happen to snag it somehow.
Of course, it means you might lose the safety pin. But a 3-inch safety pin should be easy to find, at least on pavement. And in any case, it looks like they are only sold in quantity.
Here’s an example — probably overkill at 1.6 lbs per magnet. But there are all sorts of possibilities.
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Magnetics-RB45CX10-Fastener-Diameter/dp/B00IYFNT4M/ref=sr_1_6/166-2753565-5872749?ie=UTF8&qid=1478974639&sr=8-6&keywords=rare+earth+magnets
Dear Greg, thank you for you blog. I first discovered you through a science news feed, and I was slightly surprised, but now I understand, the depth of your thought, and I’m grateful to hear my own articulated in a way which I am too uneducated to do. Well I know the Laureate said “don’t follow leaders, walkintalkin leaders”, but thereya go.
I do not ever leave my cave, but will wear the pin if I do, have the kilt-pin ready, sewn on the coat. Painted with fancy sparkling nail laquer, is v. decorative.
Safety pins: Cool idea. But magnets: I wouldn’t. Because they can erase or otherwise interfere with stored data on various devices if the devices get too close to the magnet.
There are numerous ways that might happen such as holding a closed laptop to your chest while you open up your backpack to put it inside. Or by taking the magnet out of the inner pocket and putting it somewhere and leaving a device near it.
Choose safety pins that won’t damage your clothes, and don’t over-complicate things.
But there’s one more issue to consider, that might be problematic. The alt-right will mock safety pins as being symbolic of diapers, and call us babies. We should have a counter-narrative available, that will go equally viral or more so. Perhaps that the diapers we’re seeking to pin are theirs, when they get all in a bunch.
Cath, thanks, you never know if someone is going to show up at the cave.
G: I thought about the diaper. It is almost inevitable.
Yes, I like that as the germ of a counter narrative.
Unless you’re still using a computer with floppy-disk drives, there’s no need for concern about the small magnets that would be used in this application.
There could be some danger to magnetic-stripe cards, especially the kind used for hotel room keys nowadays. But even there, the magnet would have to get really close.
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=magnetic-stripes
“OK, lets start out with the assumption that it does not matter who you or anyone else supported in the last election or what your politics are”
Usually a good idea: people are more complex (or illogical, or hypocritical or however you feel comfortable saying it) than merely how they voted in an election. Bipartisanship arises from assuming from a proposed group identity how every argument or choice someone makes will go.