Sorta like a conjugal visit
...since I kicked ass on my last diagnostic, I decided to reward myself with a post. Behold:
My girlfriend and I are moving into a new apartment on November 15th. We've signed a renters' agreement, done all that happy stuff, and went to take some dimensions today, spoke with the landlord and learned that he reserves the right to post various political signs on the property at his discretion. As a libertarian leaning individual, I find myself wanting to defend his right to do so as the owner of the property. That being said, there is something terribly unsettling, personally, about the idea that I may find myself with some variation of a pro-life or pro-affirmative action endorsement on "my" lawn - two things that would disgust me to see daily, and disgust me even more that people would tend to correlate the political statements with me, as I am the one going in and out of the place every day and will be associated with 100 main street in the eyes of the neighborhood, not the landlord.
I find it difficult to believe that some court somewhere has not at the very least placed some restrictions on what politically or religiously charged items a landlord may or may not place on the property, as it is largely the tenants residing at the address or are left to deal with the reverberations and become associated with the "ideology". If, for example, a Muslim family moved into an apartment building (this is just a large house converted into two apartments...so let's use that hypothetical) and the landlord insisted on putting up the most holy and christ-charged christmas decorations he could find, does that cross the line? Regardless of whether his motive is to praise Christ or simply to harass these tenants into leaving for whatever reason? Additionally, even here in New England I'm sure you're free to fly the stars and bars on your own front lawn, but would a court not draw the line if you elected to do so on your property that happened to be occupied by renters, as they would be the ones facing the wrath of such an item and/or come to be associated with it?
I realize these are extreme examples, but I know for a fact that this guy is pro-life and have told my girlfriend that I will not move in to a place where every neighbor who sees me (and I won't be anonymous, I have a history in the community, am active and well known...) will come to believe that I somehow support that political ideology. If there is no recourse, is there likewise anything that prohibits me from placing a sign on the law stating that while the owner of this property supports (insert issue here), the tenants are vehemently against such a policy?
You know what makes this even worse, my girlfriend, whom I thought was intelligent and a critical thinker, actually said she'd be willing to put up with all the pro-life signs in the world and have ALL the neighbors think that it was our position to get the apartment since it is a sweet place and dirt cheap for the amenities. I'm not a "fight the hegemony" type guy or anything, but isn't that submitting to the most degrading definition of landLORD? Because he is in a superior financial position to our own, we must, at least on some level submit to his whims in a way that are not associated with his rights or ability to operate a business. This really has me PISSED.
