Feel the love

Here's something we don't usually see at the corner of 72nd and Central Park West on Sunday morning. On my way to the gym and was greeted by the scene above as I stepped out of my building.

Well, at least I don't feel left out.....

Doesn't God also hate the negroes??

I stood for a while, the police arrived, and, unlike other countries we know, did not hustle the protesters off to jail. What's accomplished by hate speech of this nature? Some might say that little acts of hate-filled incitement are how mass movements like Nazism get started. This one seemed pathetic if not tragicomic. Worth paying close attention, though, in light of recent events at Holocaust Museum and elsewhere. They're not likely to win many converts here at the epicenter of the upper west side.

One learning that did come out of this incident, thanks to a quick Internet search, is that Voltaire is NOT the source of the "defend to the death your right to say it" quote often attributed to him. Do your own search to find the right answer. :) A worthwhile idea to contemplate, though, even while twisted protests are flung in one's face.