It didn't take long for the games to start with various candidate's signs.
On my way to breakfast this morning at Angels I noticed several signs knocked down or damaged. I'm guessing that most of the damage was done after Saturday's night out for people. The worst one though, was at the corner of Gordon and Wellington St.
A Tom King sign there had a small Canadian flag inserted in the top corner. Duck taped to the centre of the sign was an American flag, obviously a dig at Tom being born in the US.
These election time games are ridiculous. Just once I wish they could catch someone doing this stuff and charge them with vandalism or mischief. Regardless of your political stripe, running for public office is a difficult, time consuming and expensive effort. Hundreds of volunteer hours are spent distributing signs. People's hard earned money is used to purchase these signs in support of the various candidates. It would be refreshing if people would show some respect and common courtesy for a change and refrain from damaging or defacing by-election signs.
If you notice someone damaging signs during this campaign, please consider calling the Police to report them.
I'll post a picture of the sign later on this evening (once I've found my camera cable!).
Update: Picture posted. Not the greatest, but I snapped it through the window as my car was going through the intersection)
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5 comments:
I disagree with any damaging of signs, but the placement of an American flag in the middle of the King sign I believe is a legitimate and productive political statement, even as I disagree with the message. Voters creatively contributing their voices, in some small part, without resorting to outright destruction, I would argue is a healthy practice of democratic discourse. Although I am not an NDP supporter, 5 will get you 10 that Tom King thinks so too.
Would it then be alright to put a picture of a swastika in the middle of an election sign Mark? Or to spray paint one onto it? To the person creatively contributing to the sign you would feel that's a "legitimate and productive political statement?"
Mark, I might agree with you if someone had simply stuck a small American flag in top left corner in the same way a Canadian flag had been placed in the top right corner. If you look at the picture I posted, you can see how the flag is taped on. There's no doubt in my mind that the sign would be damaged when they try to remove the tape.
Anonymous: The swastika and the American flag are both symbols. One is unusually offensive, the other not so much. Placing a swastika on an election sign might be considered a hate crime, likely in most circumstances, and of course this would be a deplorable action. But an American flag? Come on. I will personally always err on the side of freedom of expression in such arguments.
Blue: You make a good point, thanks for the photo. The sign is likely damaged beyond repair.
The discussion we are having is perhaps similar to the wider discussion of graffiti. Some is simply malicious, some serves as (I would argue legitimate) social self reflection. Where do we draw the line?
Where do we draw the line? Damage to private property. If you don't own it, don't touch it. I have a friend who owns a business. He's spent thousands of dollars cleaning up graffiti off his building. They eventually caught one of the people tagging his building and the 25 year old got probation and a $500 dollar fine. The damage this one individual caused was in the tens of thousands of dollars across one particular area of the city.
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