Our neighbor across the street was promoting his preferred candidate during the recent Canadian elections. I have talked about how we are all walking signboards. Our looks, color of skin, speaking and dressing styles, houses we live in, cars we drive, networks we are in, are all symbols.

But what about these specific messages where people promote something or take a stand? Another neighbor down the street had an anti-vaccine sign on his lawn. Even after it had been removed, every time I pass by his house on the street, my brain screams “anti-vaxer” - and it has been extremely difficult to reprogram it since.

What if I had different members of my household supporting different candidates and had signs for all the major political parties in my yard, all at the same time? What if I put down my religious preferences and promoted them there? Including the multiple religious viewpoints, our various family members believe in?

I have a Muslim neighbor couple of streets down who has a general peace message but supplied by his mosque with their branding on it. Will that lead his household to be looked upon by others in a biased way in our divisive society?

Yes, we all have the right to be ourselves - but promoting harmony and togetherness is different from promoting alignment to certain specific points of view like politics or religion. We can really do without these signs that add to the propagation of our biases - conscious, unconscious, or otherwise. What are your thoughts?