Hopefully, folks in Albany, Oregon, will follow the same policy I'd follow if confronted by such a ghastly Allowed Cloud.
An apartment complex there has demanded that residents remove American flags from their own cars and motorcycles.
Apartment managers say it's because American flags might offend Albany's diverse population. But in all honesty, I don't think that's the reason at all. If they were protecting diversity, why would the managers try to make everyone more alike by not letting them put a flag on their car? In fact, the apartment complex reportedly flies the flag itself on ads for apartments.
If they can use the flag for advertising, why can't they let tenants display the flag on their own vehicles for noncommercial purposes?
This isn't about diversity. This is about greed and control. The apartment complex must be owned by some powerful management firm that wants to show off the power it has to discourage anyone from questioning their wealth.
Managers of this development know it's an absurd situation that such a small group of corporations owns so much of the country's land - and that people have to deal with this bureaucracy just to enjoy what once came so much easier. So they try to control what people do and hope that nobody'll fight.
Although the complex has threatened to evict residents who don't comply with the flag ban, that would be illegal on several fronts. Of course, that's not to say they won't try - and possibly succeed. The system is stacked with judges and other public officials who think nobody has a right to display the flag on their own car, but that the "property rights" of corporations that own apartment complexes are sacrosanct and trump all other rights.
Maybe it's time for the government to step in and say that faceless for-profit corporations can't own residences.
(Source: http://www.katu.com/news/local/64059697.html)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Apartment complex makes residents remove flags from cars
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