The Descent of Dissent

The Star Tribune reports on the defacing of a Norm Coleman billboard in St. Paul. The surprised reaction of the police and their pronouncement that they're investigating it as a potential hate crime (since Nazi allusions were made and Coleman is Jewish) lead me to believe that they think this incident is a new development. Whoever is in charge of this case obviously hasn't spent too much time around the Mac-Groveland neighborhood or on Ford Parkway, as instances of Left wing graffiti and vandalism has been an increasing phenomenon since well before the election.

The billboards on Grand at Ayd Mill Road have been a popular target. The oil company Conoco frequently advertises there and the most recent vandalism incident was the sloppily painted editorial across the billboard's entire length: "Their oil your war - NO WAR ON IRAQ!" This was up for about a week before it was papered over. What is not so easily remedied are the angry little words scratched into the cement on the bridge on Grand over Ayd Mill - "George Bush Sells Your Kids Drugs." I'm not sure how they're going to fix that - or if anyone is even going to try, since it's been up there for over a month already and no attempts have been made to clean it up. And during the election, Coleman yard signs on Ford Parkway were frequently spattered and defaced with gray paint.

I'd say this was enough evidence to establish a pattern. The new slurs against Coleman on the billboard at I94 and Prior seem to have the same kind tone and editorial style as what I've previously discussed. The use of swastikas and the phrase "Newest member of the SS" has the same kind of juvenile, ignorant, name calling quality to them. Which is why the police should probably forget the "hate crime" angle. As hate crimes are traditionally defined, I presume they're implying that perhaps Nazi sympathizers or white supremacists are responsible for this latest act. But these types of goons don't express their hatred of Jews by associating them with their own iconography and history. If Nazi types were responsible, they'd attack Coleman for being a Jew, not by branding him as one of their own.

My fourth generation policing instincts tell me that the person (or persons) responsible for these acts is male, caucasian, single, college-aged, antisocial, alienated from society, unemployed, easily influenced by others, with a below average level of intelligence. Using proper profiling techniques and with the assistance of the newly enacted Homeland Security provisions, I recommend an immediate quarantine of the dorms at Macalester College and a room to room search and aggressive interrogation of all residents. And even if the police don't find the exact perpetrator of these crimes, I'm sure they will yield enough arrests for possession of controlled substances and violations of the Mann Act to more than justify this intervention.

Posted by Saint Paul--Link