{"id":17927,"date":"2017-08-20T22:24:18","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T02:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=17927"},"modified":"2017-08-20T22:24:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T02:24:18","slug":"the-best-anti-nazi-strategy-is-to-let-them-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/08\/20\/the-best-anti-nazi-strategy-is-to-let-them-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Anti-Nazi Strategy Is to Let Them Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While the country is still reeling from shocking images of the violence in Charlottesville, VA last weekend, CNN<\/span> reports<\/span><\/a> the so-called \u201cAlt Right\u201d is planning nine events for this weekend, including a \u201cfree speech rally\u201d in<\/span> Boston<\/span><\/a>. As expected, counter-protests are being planned, although local police in most areas are planning to take measures to keep the adversarial groups apart to avoid violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure this strategy will be criticized because it will give White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis and others of their ilk a safe space to \u201cspew hate.\u201d That\u2019s right; it will. And that\u2019s precisely why it\u2019s the right strategy, for a number of reasons. It should have been employed in Charlottesville. Everyone involved would have been both freer and safer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ACLU Is Right on This<\/strong><\/p>\n

A wise man once said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have the First Amendment so we can talk about the weather. We have it so we can say very controversial things.\u201d No reasonable person believes the attorneys for the ACLU have any sympathy for what the speakers at the Unite the Right rally were going to say last weekend. But they recognized how important it was to defend their right to assemble and exercise their rights, even to say things the overwhelming majority of Americans find offensive. So, the ACLU went into federal court to get a local decision to revoke the group\u2019s permit overturned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pertinent question isn\u2019t \u201cWhy let them speak?\u201d It\u2019s \u201cWhy <\/span>not<\/span> let them speak?\u201d The answer to the latter question is fear. Well-meaning people are genuinely afraid of these people growing their movement. After all, it happened before, right? And it didn\u2019t happen in some Third World backwater, but in one of the leading industrial nations of the world. There are still people alive today who survived that horror.<\/span><\/p>\n

It comes down to whether Americans are going to trust each other with freedom or not. The media has used all its cinematic arts to paint last weekend\u2019s march as the bellwether of a dark political movement that could sweep the country. Really? Does anyone really believe that a few hundred losers<\/span> looking and sounding<\/span><\/a> like the Illinois Nazis from the Blues Brothers movie are going to persuade a significant percentage of Americans they\u2019re right? \u201cThe Jew is using the black as muscle against you.\u201d That\u2019s literally what they were saying in Charlottesville. We used to lampoon this stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mockery, Not Muscle<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all the criticism President Trump has absorbed for his statements about last week, there were some surprising moments of clarity. It\u2019s true that not all the people who showed up to protest removing the statue were White Supremacists or Nazis. And it\u2019s also true not all the counter-protestors were peaceful. It takes quite a bit of self-righteous denial to not see Antifa seizing an opportunity to do what they always do \u2013 assault people and destroy property \u2013 just as the Nazis seized the opportunity of the statue\u2019s removal to preach their idiotic message. Americans don\u2019t need to take a side in that fight.<\/span><\/p>\n

But we should take the First Amendment\u2019s side regarding similar events in the future. If we\u2019ve lost trust in our neighbors even to reject the arguments of Nazis, we\u2019ve acquiesced to giving up freedom itself. We may as well accept the rest of the arguments of central planners looking to rule over every aspect of our social and economic lives. Theirs is the same reasoning: we rubes can\u2019t be trusted with freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nazis should be allowed to speak and have video of their events widely disseminated by the media. Had that approach been taken last weekend, we might all be laughing at them now instead of mourning the death of an innocent woman.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nTom Mullen
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Tom Mullen is the author of Where Do Conservatives and Liberals Come From? And What Ever Happened to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? <\/a>and\u00a0A Return to Common\u00a0 Sense: Reawakening Liberty in the Inhabitants of America<\/a>.\u00a0For more information and more of Tom’s writing, visit\u00a0www.tommullen.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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