Many of you may have seen this from Hollywood last week:
An effigy of US Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin hanging by a noose as part of a Halloween display has drawn severe criticism, but local officials said the homeowner was covered by free speech rights.
…
“We have been getting some phone calls complaining about it but if (the homeowner) isn’t in violation of municipal code we have no reason to cite them,” West Hollywood spokeswoman Helen Goss said.”“People have First Amendment rights (to free speech),” Goss said. “I would speculate that if it’s part of a Halloween display then its political satire.”
And then yesterday:
Two men have been arrested in connection with an effigy of Sen. Barack Obama that was hung outside a building at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, police said Thursday.
Authorities found a life-size effigy of the Democratic presidential candidate hanging from a tree outside the school’s Mines and Minerals building on Wednesday morning, police said.
…
“This was a serious incident. It caused a lot of wounds to be opened from racial tension,” Monroe said. …
Personally, I think both sides here ought to be ashamed of themselves. But just to make sure I’m understanding this correctly:
Hanging an effigy of Sarah Palin from a noose? Why, that’s just chortle-provoking, side-splitting, satirical hilarity right there, all in good fun. And legal, too. First Amendment rights and whatnot.
Hanging an effigy of The One? Latent KKK tendencies coming to the surface in these little Hitler clones! And illegal, too. First Amendment rights? Never heard of them.
The moral of the story? The next time you feel like swinging an effigy from a noose to make a political point, pick a white female doll to hang. Bonus points if the doll represents a Republican.
Exit question: When did the “free speech rights” of the first group stop existing for the second group?