Image via NYDN



Well, this isn’t what I thought I’d see on the first day back from a weekend of not really looking at the internet. Not at all. But it’s here, and it seems at least a little worth talking about (and staring at): this photoshop of Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes as a chicken, in an ad that may or may not be intended to incite murder.

[jump]

The ad, which started circulating online in the lead-up to Yom Kippur (Hynes has a notorious grip on the Orthodox Jewish voting block), refers to Kaporos, an ancient, controversial tradition in the Orthodox community in which people swing a live chicken over their heads before slitting its throat as some sort of means of atoning for sin. The Hebrew writing on the Hynes-as-chicken ad reads, “It’s time to beat kaporos.”

Obviously, Hynes’ camp is less than thrilled about this, and City Councilman David Greenfield went so far as to say it implies that his political rivals want “to see Joe Hynes killed in the ritual tradition of slaughtering chickens,” which seems unlikely at best.

Ken Thompson, Hynes’ rival in the upcoming D.A. race, doesn’t seem especially concerned, either, noting that his campaign hadn’t “sanctioned” the ad, and instead demanding an apology for a Hynes-generated ad “comparing Ken Thompson to a venomous snake.” Which does seem like a fairly legitimate complaint. But anyway, here we are. A day before the election, and talking about all the issues. Like usual.

Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.