Personally I like the creative mocking approach better…like what this town did.
The town where I live now used to be a hotbed of Klan activity. They are still around here but less publicly visible now because we did the same thing to them. We started a fundraiser where businesses donated to causes antithetical to the Klan and cheered them during their annual march through town.
It took three years for this to really catch on, and then another three years before the Klan stopped having parades.
Goes to show that ignoring them doesn’t work.
I bet there were WWII vets and their children there counter protesting as well.
Yes…people that say to ignore them don’t understand that civility and freedom don’t die all at once…they die a little bit at a time.
The Nazis were not there just to march. They were there to send a very clear message to the Jewish community in Charlottesville. There wasn’t a lot of publicity about this but on Saturday morning (after the “Jews will not replace us” march on Friday night, armed Nazis stood outside synagogues in Charlottesville with AR-15s, specifically to intimidate worshippers. Synagogues had to be evacuated, and in some cases with wonderful help from Protestant congregations.
This is not “marching” – this is an effort to intimidate a minority group and deny their religious freedom.
The line between James Fields and his brethren is a lot less solid than you are suggesting. Nazis have some history as well and those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.
ANTIFA is a very small group that occupies a very large space in the right wing imagination.
There is no reason to tell that large majority of people who oppose racism and anti-Semitism that they have to cede the field of discourse to ANTIFA… I cannot imagine a more counter-productive tactic. By doing so, you promote a false equivalence between the right and the left on these issues.
The interesting thing I observe about the “good people on both sides” observation. There were clearly some bad people on the right there – the one’s with tiki torches chanting “Jews will not replace us.” There were clearly some bad people on the left there – the ANTIFA folks. There were a lot of clearly identifiable good people on the left – the folks like Heather Heyer who gathered to demonstrate their opposition to the Nazis peacefully.
But can anyone provide a link – a video – a webpage to a good person on the right who was there… who can talk about how they participated in a way that did not give aid and comfort to the Nazis and alt-right? I’ve never heard such a person speak. We are told they were there and for all I know they were, but I would be a lot more convinced if I could see some proof.
Both neo-nazi groups and groups like Antifa should be shouted down.
Who’s going to shout them down if people stay away from where they go for fear of getting hurt?
But as was pointed out with the organized staking out of the Jewish synagogues…the Nazis were there to intimidate.
Is that really too far removed from committing actual violence?
Perhaps that’s what Heather Heyer was doing and instead of stating…in even the most oblique way…that she is in any ways responsible for her own death…we should simply honor her courage.
Really?
Why do you think that the poles that held the NAZI flags were made of really thick wood?
Why do you think that they had shields? Body Armor?
Even the milita guys who went there to help keep the peace say that the White Supremacists were there to do violence.
He criticized the Unite the Right rally, saying it represented the most extreme end of the political spectrum.
“These people did not come for free speech, they came to fight. We are not going to allow people to get violent. This was nothing more than an excuse to unite rightwing hate groups. They knew Black Lives Matter would come and antifa would come,” he said, referring to anti-racism activist groups.
Asked about a man in militia garb photographed next to him during the event wearing what looked like a Confederate flag, he said the man was not part of his 32-member unit and he did not condone wearing such insignia.
“We absolutely would not wear something like this, the Confederate symbol, that would align us with these rightwing lunatics,” he said.
Even people who are more politically aligned on the right recognize what the point of the Unite the Right Rally was.
It isn’t bias… it is reality. It is the explicit purpose as to why they gathered there.
I still don’t understand the value that one gets by excusing this,
I know the difference in actuality.
I’m talking about potentiality.
I added the qualifier “even in the most oblique way”.
And I wasn’t just talking about you.
But at any rate there is a known psychological effect of the use of the phrase “Yes, but…”.
It weakens the impact of whatever the “yes” was referring to and gives the impression the speaker is attempting to absolve the “yes” part.
Even if done in the most oblique way.
So leave it to others to shout down NAZIs and ANTIFA.
Cool.
I didn’t say the phrase “come to murder”. YOU said that.
I don’t even believe Fields came to Charlottesville with the intention of murdering anyone.
Actual actions? Yes.
Motivations and motivators? No.
Very weak punt. Many questions are statements in disguise.
It’s understanding human nature.
How do you figure?
Except you’re the only who assserted that he did know. See how that works?
