The cartoon says “the left”, but in fact not everyone on the left agrees with those tactics. In Boston yesterday tens of thousands of people came to protest against a free speech rally to protest for the right to hold and spread even the most extreme views about subjects like race, religion, and feminism, and the police did a great mob of keeping the protesters from the rally goers. There were a few protesters ready to do battle with the police:
But on the whole the rest were allowed to protest peacefully. That’s encouraging.
We will have to see if the police in Phoenix do as well at the political rally scheduled by Trump for next Tuesday:
President Trump is pressing forward with plans for a large-scale political rally in Phoenix next week, despite pleadings from the city’s mayor and other elected officials not to hold a polarizing event while feelings remain so raw over the hate-fueled violence in Charlottesville.
—The Washington Post
Fingers crossed.
It has been quite a week hasn’t it? I don’t know that I’ve ever been so disheartened by events and words, but I was encouraged by what I saw on the news in Boston. I’m glad “one side” by far outnumbered the other.
I saw on the news that the president and Malania won’t be attending the Kennedy Center Honors because of politics, so why not use that same good sense when considering whether to go to Phoenix? Oh yeah, because the Kennedy Center Honors are not all about him…….
Trump thrives on adulation, which is why he loves campaigning.
This is the paradox of the concept of free speech. Each group believes that the other groups with contrary views should be denied the freedom.
Actually that’s not true. Some people still believe others should have the right to express their opinions. It gets tricky when speech starts inciting violence. Years ago our Supreme Court ruled you’re not allowed to yell fire in a crowded theater.
You hit the nail on the head, Kim, Trump only has time for anything that focuses on him, and massages his ego. We keep hoping that this time, his so called supporters won’t show up. Won’t that be a treat!
Dream on, I’m afraid: A Deal Breaker for Trump’s Supporters? Nope. Not This Time, Either.
This has been very interesting (and distressing). I was impressed by the Boston police. Torben made a similar comment to one of your posts about how challenging it is to get unbiased information.
I spent a lot of time yesterday on this post, trying to find out exactly who were invited to speak at the Free Speech Rally. Was it about hate or just unpopular ideas?
Apparently the rally spokesman said “the event has nothing to do with white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, and stressed that although speakers initially invited to the rally have espoused racist ideas, he condemns Nazis and other racist hate groups.” The article said the group’s Facebook page states
“While we maintain that every individual is entitled to their freedom of speech and defend that basic human right, we will not be offering our platform to racism or bigotry. We denounce the politics of supremacy and violence. We denounce the actions, activities, and tactics of the so-called Antifa movement. We denounce the normalization of political violence.”
So I’m still a bit confused about that part, but the main thing is nonviolence won.
My concern is that some corners of politics have decided that dredging up the past is a great way to create divisions and animosities, which can then be exploited. Removing it from our current context, the Shias and the Sunnis can’t let history rest either, but must keep re-fighting a battle that happened more than a thousand years ago. This phenomenon is universal. Now we are being forced to re-fight the US Civil War, not because it needed re-fighting, but simply because a group saw some short-term political gain in getting people stirred up.