While Newt Gingrich is clearly wrong that Nazis could be legally precluded from putting up a sign or billboard near the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, I think it’s a valid question whether that ought to be the case. If I were to argue in favor of the government’s right to ban Nazi signage (near the Holocaust museum, or anyplace else) I would do so on the grounds that Nazi messages and symbols are obscene, just like graphic sexual images or images of grisly violence. In general, I am First Amendment absolutist, and I begrudgingly support the right of people to say anti-Semitic or white supremacist shit. So, I wouldn’t ultimately argue such a case on the behalf of anti-Nazis, even though I hate Nazis as much as anyone. But I think an argument can be made. I know Europe has laws against promoting Nazi ideology, although I confess that I am not familiar with those laws in any detail. Whenever I have read about them I have been grateful that our courts haven’t gone down that slippery slope.
But it sure is a fine line when we’re talking about evoking Nazi history, ideology, or imagery. A Nazi flag is an obscene symbol to a lot of people. Would you feel more violated by seeing a billboard with an erect penis on your way to work or a billboard displaying a swastika in a positive manner?
