Quote Originally Posted by tintin View Post
Interesting. As you might know, we have a "similar" problem here in the states. A small minority of people wanting to tear down statues that commemorate soldiers who fought in our civil war or who owned slaves. I see those as reminders of how far we've come, not a monument celebrating slavery. Many of those people were a important part of the formation of our country despite having flaws.
Now, the SS is a whole different story. The fact that it has stood that long is shocking. The idea of calling it a hate crime shows the ignorance of the politically correct. (Hope this discussion doesn't cross the allowed rules).
Yes, the story on the SS monument is different from what is happening in the US regarding monuments. The defacing of the SS monument is a hate crime because it speaks to the motive of the perpetrators which moves it from garden variety vandalism to hate crime. It has nothing to do with political correctness but is very ironic nonetheless.

Bob