I happen to think that the most important lesson of this is that we do not have enough Town Squares. If I parade around town or at the mall with a hammer and sickle hat at most I may generate a few odd looks and frighten a few old ladies. A North Korean flag wearer might get some people angry but most would not recognise it. Easy Rider Captain America flag wearing is good for the movie posters and would not get me shot at today on the highway but I might get pulled over and be given a sobriety test.

Town Squares however should be a place for recognized public discourse and the occasional odd hat or flag wearer. There are too few of them. Reasonable debate, visual statements, and speech giving is generally confined to the whispers of electronic bloggers on their fave websites. Political smear ads on the other hand have taken over the media and made ad executives easy millions. It is hard to turn away from their visual onslaughts.

However where is the Town Square in all of this? Reasoned debate is drowned out by the sound of trucks and autos whizzing by and ignored by the masses of blue light shoppers absorbed in the ring tones of their cell phones as they rush by on sidewalks.