Diggers Realm has this tidbit of modern day America:
The effigy of a soldier hanging from the side of a Sacramento house has returned, this time with a sign that reads “Bush Lied, I Died”. On watching the news tonight there were many residents of the neighborhood that were offended by it including a Jewish man who lives across the street who found the Palestinian flag particularly offensive. Complaints have been filed with the District Attorney that the act of Steve and Virginia Pearcy is a hate crime.
Virginia Pearcy was shown weeping when interviewed that no one was protecting her right to free speech. Local police say they have stepped up patrols in the neighborhood because of the attention of the outrageous effigy. Steve Pearcy says he has noticed no increase and complained that his right to free speech isn’t being protected.
I noticed on the video they hung a new banner under the effigy for some peace website or something, I’m not sure if that replaced one of the flags — that of Iraq or Palestinians — or whether it was in addition to them. The new effigy is no longer hanging from a noose and the man who ripped the original effigy down has not been caught yet. Police say that if caught he will be charged with theft.
So this is a free speech issue. But let’s add this:
It’s also a commonsense issue.
Unless his point is to incredibly inflame passions and shut off all debate it’s hard to see how hanging a photo of a soldier in effigy or a Palestinian flag is going to win anyone over to Pearcy’s point of view.
The point is to do it because he can do it — because it is protected. To rub a statement in the faces of those who disagree. It’s to inflame the passions. To get TV coverage so the statement is carried via the airwaves and newspapers.
A strategy that, unfortunately, worked…and constantly works again and again.. in modern day, polarized America.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.