I get that not everyone is going to share my view of the world. I understand that people have different ways of seeing things.

Frankly, there are people I agree with most issues on and disagree on a handful of others. There are others who I disagree with on almost everything except for one or two issues. That’s just the nature of the beast, and I’m fine with that.

However, I also think that there are lines we should all be able to agree aren’t to be crossed. Pedophiles deserve harsh punishments as do rapists of any other stripe and that we should probably not advocate for violence.

Where things tend to get murky, though, is in the details.

For me, though, the Chicago Chamber of Commerce hoisting up an ICE pinata doesn’t seem all that murky.

Children took turns beating a pinata that was created in the likeness of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a community block party on July 13.

The “East Side Community Day in Chicago” community event was hosted by a chamber of commerce comprised of 25 local businesses, FOX News reported.

Videos and photos of the scene showed the kids as they lined up for their turn to smash the ICE agent-themed pinata with a large stick.

Many were encouraged by their parents, and some people even held their small children so they could help them to strike it.

…

“So, we’re just making a statement,” [Los Brown Berets Chicago chapter leader Anthony] Martinez told WBBM. “Taking children from their parents, separating them…let them know that it’s not wanted in here, in this community.”

“It was not meant in a negative way at all towards law enforcement,” he claimed.

Yeah, right. Not meant in a negative way. They took a Batman pinata, modified it to look like a white ICE agent–and ICE agents come in all ethnicities, but it’s important to make it a white police officer–and then encourage children to beat it.

I’m sorry, but how is this not negative?

The whole act smacks of encouraging violence toward law enforcement, particularly ICE agents. This is the same federal agency that was recently the target of an Antifa terrorist. Under the circumstances, Martinez and his buddies should probably have taken a step back and thought that maybe, just maybe, this might be interpreted wrong. However, there’s little media attention focused on this.

When a madman shot Gabby Giffords, however, there was wall-to-wall coverage about how Sarah Palin had used crosshairs to “target” Giffords in a flier, despite a long history of such things being used by both sides in campaign rhetoric.

This, though? Eh, who cares, right? It’s just ICE. Like the media cares about them. They’re not real people to the mainstream media.

They’re real to a lot of us, though, and while this may not have been intended as a direct threat–make no mistake, I believe it is, but I’ll also acknowledge that I’m not a mindreader–it’s in poor taste at the very least.