GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The gloves are off and the masks have been removed in the United States as apparently it has become acceptable, even fashionable, to bully your fellow citizens — or better still, hang an effigy of your president, who happens to be black, with a noose, and in a part of the country where not too long ago, that in of itself was quietly approved.

Just last week, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., hung an effigy of President Barack Obama from a gallows on its front lawn, accompanied by an upside-down rainbow Pride flag.