Ignorance and bigotry combine yet again. Moran flies Nazi flag in *Santa Cruz*.

[KamaAina]

one of the most progressive towns in the land.

http://www.mercurynews.com/central-coast/ci_13908125

The Nazi flags came down from an apartment window on Pacific Avenue on Tuesday, but community members outraged by the swastikas hung over the weekend are considering a letter-writing campaign to change the rental agreement for tenants living in the Residences at the St. George.

"What we're trying to investigate is whether or not the landlord can have a clause in the rental agreement to say that things hanging in the window cannot have symbols of hate," said Rabbi Paula Marcus with Temple Beth El in Aptos....

The controversy began after a tenant living above a clothing store on Pacific Avenue displayed German Nazi swastika flags in his windows all weekend and through Monday night. The flags are a symbol of Adolph Hitler's Third Reich, which killed more than 6 million Jews before and during World War II.

Tuesday, the Nazi flags were replaced with American, British, Norwegian and modern German flags, deflating the immediate sense of outrage that many downtown felt in the days prior. The apartment tenant has not been identified.

:wtf: was he thinking? He's lucky people didn't come up there with pitchforks and torches! :grr:

edit: spell "ignorance" :dunce:

[stranger81]

1. Here's hoping it's not too late for the pitchforks and torches . . . [n/t]

[HopeHoops]

2. "things hanging out the window"? So...

I don't consider any of the following to be "symbols of hate":

- A string of various size and color dildos
- A blow up male sex doll
- A blow up female sex doll
- A pair of sex dolls (any combination) engaged in explicit activities
- Playboy "peekaboo" undies
- A kite with a tail made from lace bras
- Levi's Playgirl pictures

Boy could you have some fun with that rental agreement!

[tblue]

3. In the People's Republic of Santa Cruz?

Is that huge balls or just plain stupidity? Or both?

Are there hidden pockets of skinheads in SCruz? Please, God, no. Keep Santa Cruz weird!

[TreasonousBastard]

4. "One of the most progressive towns in the land" wants to stifle free speech? Then...n

they're mollifed by a few nice flags?

Someone's being played here, and it ain't the "ignorant" one.

[KamaAina]

5. The First Amendment protects people from government action

even Nazis. So if Santa Cruz wanted to put Young Adolf in jail, you'd have a point.

It does not, however, protect him from his landlord adding a clause to his rental agreement telling him not to display swastikas, etc. on the landlord's private property.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. It's still stifling speech, which I always find ironic...

when anybody does it. "They" ban "Tom Sawyer" and anything by Judy Blum. "We" ban what we consider hate speech and books we haven't read, like "Nappy Hair."

I don't know why the swastika was hanging from the window. Was it a neo-Nazi, or an artist making some obscure point? Was it some jerk simply trying to start a shitstorm?

Maybe the intent does make a difference, maybe not. But if intent makes a difference, as I believe it does, we should know the intent before we rush to judgment and action.

Or is there some threshold of offensiveness past which we cannot cross?