Clothing Symbols (was /Re: Brit News - Complete lose of Perspective

[Tonks]

This is somewhat related to the story of the teens in the mall and 
their clothing that mark them as gang members or whatever.
Here is a story of a man who sells antiques and such for a living. 
He has an auction house in a small town.

The article was in our local newspaper today.  There is a small town 
in the southern part of my state where everyone is in an uproar over 
an auction that one of the businesses is trying to have.  I think he 
has been trying to sell a couple of items of clothing (and some 
other related artifacts) for some time now and they have given him a 
lot of trouble over it.  He tried moving the auction to another part 
of the state but then he canceled it for some reason.  I haven't 
really followed the story that closely.  

But reading it today, I thought of Knockturn Alley and Mr. Borgan.  
What would Mr. Borgan do if he wanted to have an auction of some of 
the *historical artifacts* of LV; things that he perhaps got from 
LM.  Would the Chamber of Commerce accuse him of *besmirching* (the 
actually words they used) the image of Knockturn Alley?  I think 
that maybe some folks might think that Knockturn Alley *besmirched* 
itself long ago. This situation is so much like that of Knockturn 
Alley.  I don't want to get into a debate about it, so I will only 
hint at what it is about. I really don't have an opinion on the 
situation one way or the other.  (Of course the origin of the 
*artifacts* is nothing for that town or history to be proud of.) 
Perhaps he shouldn't have bought the stuff to start with.  Maybe he 
didn't know what sort of press he would get.  Probably just didn't 
think about it at all.  He probably got a good deal when the 
 ah
 
(leader)
  died and thought he could make a few dollars selling it 
as collector's items. (Course I don't know who would want it in 
their home.) It probably should just go in a museum somewhere.  What 
I find odd is that the head of the Chamber of Commerce doesn't want 
the town *besmirched* by this.  For God sakes!!, I say.  Everyone 
who has lived in this state for more than 20 years when they hear 
the name of the town associate it with *that group*.  So like 
Knockturn Alley, it is what it is.  Or was what it was. I didn't 
know the guy died and that they weren't *that place* anymore. So 
maybe the press is good for them because now we all know that it 
isn't *that place* anymore.  Anyway, poor Mr. Borgan what will he do 
when it is no longer fashionable to be a DE and he is stuck with all 
of LV old things?