If sports mascots and broadcasters with names similar to Confederates and their horses are under fire in the current typhoon of stupidity following Charlottesville, why should Tiki Torches get a pass?

https://twitter.com/CuffyMeh/status/863788542677450756

Clearly the TIKI Torch has now become a symbol of hate thanks to alt-right Nazi überdouche Richard Spencer and his gang of significantly less than supreme white boys. Why do leftists insist on continuing to use this symbol which has now come to represent racism, bigotry, Pepe the Frog, dopey haircuts, and Hitler?

They think that a simple disclaimer is enough to cover up the hate. How many people walking the streets of D.C. are being unnecessarily triggered thanks to some residents’ selfish need to repel mosquitoes with the emblem of those who are literally bringing back slavery?

https://twitter.com/AnnieLinskey/status/899308771725496320

Those responsible think it’s a big joke.

The sign was one of two that Annie Dragolich and Jessica Kenley hung outside the home on Saturday. A couple in their early thirties who moved into the Cardozo home a month ago, Dragolich and Kenley ordered the torches “because we have legit mosquito problems and nothing seems to help, and then we realized it was an inopportune time to have them,” says Kenley, who works for a local boutique investment bank.

Dragolich, an operations manager at a tech company, says that their front yard is a “fishbowl,” easily visible to neighbors and passersby, and she didn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression about what the torches meant when they were using them to ward off the bloodsucking bugs on Saturday night.

“We knew people would see [the signs], we wanted our neighbors to see it, but I never thought it would be as popular as it is,” says Dragolich, who adds that they’ve only gotten positive feedback about it. She says if she had known the image would be photographed and shared, “I would have made a nicer sign.”

A nicer sign still wouldn’t excuse these ladies’ distorted priorities. They are more worried about depriving innocent insects of a meal than they are about stopping the Nazi quest for world domination.

Tiki torch CEO says he was offended by images of white supremacists using his company's products in Charlottesville https://t.co/oLtWehRJjL pic.twitter.com/BufBuSkFtG

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 15, 2017

The manufacturer of the torches used at the fatal “Unite the Right Rally,” TIKI Brand Products, also disavowed their product’s use in the events that led to the death of one counterprotesterand the injuries of many more.

“TIKI Brand is not associated in any way with the events that took place in Charlottesville and are deeply saddened and disappointed,” the company wrote in a Facebook post on August 12. “We do not support their message or the use of our products in this way. Our products are designed to enhance backyard gatherings and to help family and friends connect with each other at home in their yard.”

Yes, and slavery was intended to enhance the economic power of the racist south. The ends don’t justify the means. I think I speak for everyone when I say that TIKI’s weak attempt to distance themselves from the movement they are supporting with their product is just not good enough. The company should at the very least sever connections with any retailers who sold torches to white people.

We must rid ourselves of everything that might resemble or have some relationship—no matter how remote and insignificant—with those who spread hate and racism.