You might have missed this story, as it was posted last night, but on NC's Diary, he covered a story about a business in North Carolina who's put up one of the most racist and offensive signs we've seen this election cycle.
So, I say we should make the owner of the business famous! Photo of the sign, and how I think we should handle it, after the jump.
As you may or may not know, Barack Obama has started to spend some of his time in North Carolina, as it looks very much like a swing state. Polls there are generally pretty close. It seems like a lot of people are excited about him there, and are excited about him holding rallies there.
However, not everyone's happy to see him. According to the Asheville Citizen-Times:
However, not everyone expressed excitement about Obama’s visit. Jimmy Edney Sr., who owns Land of the Sky Realty in Hendersonville, posted, "Osama-Obama. Not American. Not Welcome" on his business’ sign on Orrs Camp Road.
Edney said he made the sign Friday and would take it down when Obama leaves. A few people called and told him they found the sign offensive and wouldn’t do business with him, he said. Others offered support.
"I honestly believe that he is just as dangerous as Osama bin Laden," Edney said. "He could do more damage to the United States than Osama could."
And here's the photo of that sign:
This guy has every right to free speech, of course, regardless of how patently racist and offensive it is. But we have a right to let him know how we feel about it. More importantly, though, we have the right to make him famous and give him the PR nightmare of his life.
How? We should spread this picture far and wide.
DIGG IT.
REDDIT IT.
Post it on Facebook, send it around, whatever.
Why should we do this, you ask? No, it's not primarily out of spite (though that helps), but it's to send a message that we won't tolerate this bullshit, which we will see in increasing amounts over the next thirty days.
The wingnuts ARE very good at protesting businesses they don't like, organizing letter writing campaigns, the whole nine yards. However, thanks to the Internet, we have our own form of organization and messaging, and I think it's time we use it. We've got to send the message that anyone who engages in such hateful speech will have to deal with the public relations nightmare that comes attached to it.