Nazis at the Shore

Saturday was a picture perfect day at the beach at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, where we went with our friends. It was warm and sunny with just enough breeze to keep us comfortable. The only thing that marred it was the Nazi propaganda.

One of those little planes flew by trailing a banner with swastikas on it. It had a swastika symbol, an equal sign and then a heart and a peace sign. It was like a little anti-Semitic rebus except it was completely wrong because love plus peace doesn’t add up to Nazism. At the end of the banner was a swastika superimposed on a Star of David. Oh, there was also some website. I won’t be checking it out. I don’t want this site in my browser history and certainly am not curious to look at the content (I can pretty much guess what it will say anyway).

So yeah, there was nothing like getting a full-body chill upon looking up into the blue sky and seeing an ugly reminder of the hatred that still lingers in our world. Usually those banners will say something like “All You Can Eat Crabs.” I did not expect bigotry to fly across my sky.

I’m not sure how many people saw it because there was no noticeable reaction from anybody else; no big gasps or pointing or anything. I hope a lot of people missed the banner because that’s not something kids need to see on a beach, or something adults need to see, for that matter. After we saw it, there was a feeling of “Did that just happen?” What was next, the KKK volleyball team setting up a net right next to us?

What I want to know is, how can some flight company fly this type of trash in good conscience? It’s not a freedom of speech issue because private companies have the right to refuse to spread messages they find objectionable. The First Amendment guarantees the right that the hate group will not get arrested but nobody can be compelled to be the group’s messenger. I hope somebody on the beach complained but I don’t know how to find out to whom to complain. I’m sure the neo-Nazis paid their money to fly a hate symbol over the beach but business cannot be that bad that this outfit could not have told these people to go to hell. Can you imagine being the pilot who had to fly this crap across the sky?

My friend later heard on the radio that this was the work of some cult in Las Vegas that believes the swastika is an alien symbol and is trying to "rehabilitate" the image or some bullshit. I am aware that the swastika was a symbol of luck and the Nazis corrupted it but it's pointless to try to "take back" the symbol. After millions of deaths, I'd say that ship sailed. 

Anyway, I felt like I needed a shower after that and it wasn’t just because I smelled like the ocean. Couldn’t I enjoy my afternoon without the hate?