Lollapalosers on Parade

We're used to visitors in Lexington. Lots of tour buses with history buffs and families showing their kids the origins of the Revolutionary War. I grew up in a tourist town (a much bigger one, actually) and I appreciate the fact that I live in a place people want to see in person.

This weekend, however, we're getting visitors of another sort: anti-civil rights idiots from Kansas. Apparently these people take busloads of their followers across the country to show off their ignorance and bigotry in places that disagree with them. Sort of a "Hatred Roadshow" or "Loutishness on Tour." Worse, they expose their children to this behavior, creating a legacy of fear and intolerance. (I know some very nice, intelligent people from Kansas, and they must be cringing at their state's mainstream-media reputation, which currently consists mainly of these jerks and the anti-science crowd.)

The town has asked us not to hurl tomatoes or insults at these people, but rather to remain calm in the face of hate. I'm proud of how our town has handled the recent flap over civil rights for all families, so I guess I'll listen to the community leaders and put my tomatoes away. Truthfully, we're not getting locally grown tomatoes yet, so they're still a little expensive. It's not worth wasting either my hard-earned money or fine produce on these people.