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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEmpty chair 'lynchings': Anti-Obama protests gone too far?
At least two recent incidents in which empty chairs were hung from trees by rope have critics decrying what they say are racially offensive displays meant to symbolize the lynching of President Barack Obama.
In Austin, Texas, a homeowner hung an empty folding chair from a tree branch in front of his house and later attached an American flag to it. He reportedly told a Democratic political blogger who inquired about it: You can take [your concerns] and go straight to hell and take Obama with you.
In Centreville, Va., an empty chair with a sign reading Nobama was strung from a tree in or near a park. In short, this appears to be a crude metaphor for the lynching of President Obama, wrote the blogger who posted the photo.
The image of an empty chair has been associated with Obama ever since Clint Eastwoods headline-grabbing, non-conformist speech at the Republican National Convention three weeks ago in Tampa, Fla. The 82-year-old actor-director talked to an empty chair as if the Democratic president were sitting in it, criticizing and mocking the invisible Obama for 12 minutes.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13989510-empty-chair-lynchings-anti-obama-protests-gone-too-far?lite
Why is there a question mark in the headline?
drm604
(16,230 posts)Hopefully the Secret Service will look into this.
Good point about the question mark.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)dkf
(37,305 posts)The Secret Service said it was looking into the empty chair incidents. "The Secret Service is aware of this and will conduct appropriate followup," spokesman Brian Leary told NBC News.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13989510-empty-chair-lynchings-anti-obama-protests-gone-too-far?lite
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)SickOfTheOnePct
(7,290 posts)but ask questions, just like when that whacko in Florida hung Obama in effigy.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)about someone killing Obama. The SS, police and school did nothing about that.
ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)It is a commitment to do what they think is the right thing whatever that may be.
I'll go with that...
SickOfTheOnePct
(7,290 posts)but no different than hanging someone in effigy.
And no, I don't believe it is a threat, it's a political statement, i.e., free speech. Hateful free speech, no doubt, but free speech just the same.
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)To buy a stuffed elephant and hang it in a tree? And do they make orange stuffed elephants?
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Do that at your own risk,
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)And perhaps John Boehner in particular.
I couldn't do it...I don't want to be identified as "a former employee of this newspaper."
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)It is pretty much along the same lines as the wackos that put out the hate film about Muslims, free speech trumps everything. You have to take the good with the bad.