Did Charlottesvilel mean anything?

[Brian37]

You need to study world history before you say stupid shit like that. AGAIN, it does not have to be a majority for a minority to fuck things up for the majority. The only way they "don't go anywhere" is eternal vigilance. Again, lots of Germans long before Hitler had any power, when he first started making noise, lots of people also didn't take him seriously. 

I don't think there's anyone here, or in America, who doesn't take the actions and counteractions around white supremacists and race groups.  But what does Nazi Germnay tell you about how to act on the constitution and laws of the US?  Does it say if you distrust a group or disagree with them that they must be stopped at all costs?

Be careful with that sentiment, because if people on the streets or in forums get to decide who to put in a group and then marginalize, atheists are going to be a pretty easy target.

I have argued in the past that liberals and atheists should not go too far in demanding censorship. I stand by that statement. But we are not at a point in history where we have the luxury of ignoring these assholes because they have an asshole in the White House dog whistling at them.

I would love nothing more than to see a bunch of asshole make fools of themselves in public, but we cant afford to allow the same mindset that had the same power to lynch blacks with impunity and stack juries against them to rise to that level again. 

The KKK and Neo Nazis are ideologies that go against western pluralism. That is bad enough, but when politicians in seats of power wink at them, it has to be met with condemnation. 

Again, this is not about protecting offensive speech. Certainly we this website could be shut down if the far right had their say. This is about politics and political tactics and those ideologies gaining political power over time. 

I am for free speech, and protecting offensive speech, but when you show up with weapons of war that is no longer simply being offensive, that is an act of intimidation and shouting fire in a theater. 

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