Hi MT,
Originally posted by midnight Target
vandalism is bad... duh.
http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2006-08-10/news3.html
Vandalism is bad indeed, but interestingly enough the article makes my original point. A local paper managed to find one incident of vandalism possibly related to the "Moo" campaign and ran with it. They are outraged that a window was broken and assert that this is a "hate crime" although the perps left no message, made no threats, and have not repeated the action. In fact we obviously have a community obviously chomping at the bit to use any incident, no matter how minor, as evidence of "hate crimes" -
"Two days later, she sent letters of complaint to Mayor Lionel Rivera, District Attorney John Newsome and the Colorado Springs Police Department.
"I am a lesbian in a wonderful, committed 9-year relationship," Cyndi wrote. "We live in a supportive neighborhood with our daughter. The "political' sign in my daughter's car window is the Norman Dog who says Moo ... the one that is supposed to stimulate conversations about being gay. And what do we get? Vandalizing homophobes, terrorizing in the dead of night, plus an unresponsive community to our experience of hate and violence."
"Terrorizing Hate and Violence?" This is a broken window, not the Danish Cartoon riots, for that matter it isn't notes saying:
"The purpose of this document is to inform not only you, but all who share your anti-gay or any other discriminatory beliefs, your world is about to change. … SO TAKE WARNING! Your life, your government and the world as you know it is about to change. YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US!" or lawn fires for that matter.
For what it's worth, while I disagree with the methods and aims of the note writer above, I think he or she is essentially correct in how they framed the issue.
Ah well, it's going to be an interesting century to put it mildly.