Boston 'Free Speech' Rally Ends Early, Drowned Out By Those Who Actually Understand The Concept
The "Free Speech" rally in Boston has already "ended early" following thousands and thousands of counter-protesters arriving and vastly outnumbering the hundreds (maybe ) who actually showed up to rally for a definition of Free Speech that does not appear anywhere in the Constitution.
As "free speech" rally participants leave via police escort in Boston, counter-protesters chant: "still our city" pic.twitter.com/LkzRjowM1p
— Dan Fogarty (@danfoges) August 19, 2017
Even before today -- several prominent speakers, like noted garbage person Gavin McInnes , pulled out of the rally and pretended that it had been canceled when it hadn't been.
The Washington Post interviewed one young fella who showed up at the rally, and wanted everyone to know that he was not a racist:
One rally attendee, Luke St. Onge, a young man wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat and GOP T-shirt, said he came even though he knew it might be attended by white supremacist groups whose views he said he does not agree with.
“I definitely wouldn’t associate myself with the KKK or any white supremacist. I don’t stand with them at all,” said St. Onge, who is from Las Vegas “I do support their right to an opinion,” he added. “Free speech is definitely something I stand for.”
OH LUKE. Allow me to explain a thing to you! If you don't like the KKK, or any white supremacist, you probably should not march with them . There are few things that give off the impression that one stands with the KKK so much as literally standing with the KKK.
There are myriad people all over the country with opinions. Practically everyone, in fact! Go stand next to one of them! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PICK THE KKK TO STAND NEXT TO, BECAUSE ALL YOU ARE DOING IS MAKING IT LOOK LIKE THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE SUPPORTING THE KKK.
The government isn't silencing the KKK or white supremacists though. In fact, the "government" (ie: The President) is going around saying they're not so bad, and that if they are bad, then people who hate Nazis are just as bad as the Nazis are . The "government" (ie: The President) has also decided that people like the KKK and white supremacists are not the type of terrorists they care to spend any effort or money monitoring , despite their tendency to commit violent acts in order to achieve their pathetic dream of a white ethno-state. So they probably do not actually need your help, Luke.
Let me be as clear about this as is humanly possible-- no one who actually values and understands the First Amendment could possibly have, in good conscience, voted for Donald Trump. He wants to "loosen up the libel laws" -- and the only way to do that would be to put something into the constitution that somehow nullifies New York Times Co. v. Sullivan , the most important First Amendment-related decision of the last century.
He is mad that police officers -- part of the government -- don't rough up people who protest because they're being "politically correct."
“Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other any more, They’re being politically correct, the way they take them out, so it takes a little bit longer, and honestly protestors realize it. They realize there are no consequences to protesting anymore. There used to be consequences. There are none anymore."
He's also eager to eliminate the Johnson Amendment, which would result in an erosion of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. He's promised his people that other people will wish them a Merry Christmas.
He is also, in case you had not noticed, not exactly the world's biggest fan of the free press.
The people protesting in this park today do not mind any of that. That is fine! They are good with it, they voted for it! In fact, I will bet you anything that if Trump decided to accomplish his goals with regards to libel laws by going the John Adams route and making it illegal, for the term of his presidency, to criticize the government in certain ways, his base would cheer for it. Because he's treated unfairly by the media.
What they are protesting is a right not guaranteed in the First Amendment -- and that is the right to consequence-free speech. Not consequences from the government, mind you, but consequences from private citizens and private companies. What they want is the ability to say horrible things without anyone "silencing" them by telling them that they are a jerk. The right to say racist things without social consequences imposed on you by entities other than the government. And that is not a thing.
[ Washington Post ]
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Let's not start with "we" - you're not we. As someone whose ancestors were slaves, I have ZERO interest in finding 'common ground' with racists/white nationalists/the KKK."Centrism" is not a liberal position, it is the epitome of white privilege to be able to take the attitude "I'm not directly affected by any of these issues, so I can afford to sit above the situation and plaintively cry "why can't we all just get along"?".If you march with Nazi's/KKK members, it is absolutely OK to assume that you hold the same views and as such, pose an immediate and existential threat both to minority persons in the street and society as a whole. Nobody should respond to a person's choice to align themselves with domestic terrorists with more threats of violence, but this 'both sides do it' nonsense is just more cover for racists to use when they try to play the victim after being rightly censured for their unconscionable philosophies.
I agree, but I think it's just best to call it bad policy rather than bigoted policy unless you have good evidence that it was made with bigoted intent or you could call it disenfranchisement policy. It dilutes the word to overuse it and imagines Washington as some dichotomy where all laws are made along some spectrum of does this benefit blacks or not when there are a lot of important factors that need to be considered. There are, for example, legitimate arguments, that at a certain point, affirmative action, hurts both black and white people, and people who respectfully delve into that discussion deserve to enter that space without fear of being ostracized as racist.