Posted on by Californiacontrarian

An Interesting Twist !


Recently I used the word, “pejorative” in one of my posts, and one of my thousand or so readers responded that I should have used the phrase, “ad hominem” instead. Ad hominem means “ attacking an opponent’s character rather than answering his argument.” For those that are not aware this is a typical tactic of the left.

An interesting example of this ad hominem response occurred recently in California, in Redwood City to be precise. The interesting part of this story , however, is not the predictable ad hominem responses from the looney leftists, but the twist . . . namely the response of Redwood City. 

Let me set the stage. 

From the Western Journal:

A “Black Lives Matter” mural was requested by city resident Dan Pease, who painted it in big, yellow letters on Broadway Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, as part of a Fourth of July public art celebration. The city not only agreed to allow the message – it even supplied the paint to put it down.

So far, par for the course in NorCal.

However then Maria Rutenburg, a real estate attorney steps into the picture.

She said that because the city had made the street a public forum, it should be open space for a political message she favored – and one that isn’t popular in liberal San Mateo County.

Rutenberg said, 

“I asked Redwood City to allow me to paint MAGA2020 next to BLM on the Broadway. . . . I stand for the 1st Amendment and everyone ‘s right to express their political views in a new public forum of street asphalts.”

The response of Redwood City was to remove the mural with the words “Black Lives Matter” painted on a city street after Ms. Rutenberg requested permission to put in her own sign proclaiming “MAGA 2020.”

(Interestingly, the city removed the BLM street letters in the middle of the night!)

Well what do you think happened next? Not surprising the “ad hominem” attack spigot was opened.

Unfortunately, it was predictable that Rutenburg would get vicious backlash. A quick glance at social media posts shows efforts obviously aimed at intimidation and harassment. Nobody seemed interested in arguing her point, but rather attacked her person . . . “ad hominem.”

An additional interesting twist was pointed out in the Western Journal article:

If trying to add “MAGA 2020” to the “BLM street art” worked in NorCal, it could potentially work anywhere! 

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