Freedom of speech?

[Meadmaker]

When you're a rat and some square starts to preach,
Drown him right out, call it freedom of speech.

I don't know why I remembered that line. It was from a Mad Magazine feature called "West Coast Story", which was a parody of "West Side Story", and was published in about 1969 or 1970. It was a hippie themed version, about riots at Berkley and elsewhere. The above was taken from "The Rats' Song", to the tune of "The Jets' Song". The "Rats" were a group organizing campus protests.

I was seven years old when I read it, but I got the joke.

 

[thaiboxerken]

The article doesn't mention if Philip Anderson is a Nazi, but he is a Trump supporter.

 

[Darat]

Did you watch the video? It was nothing like that. The two guys didn't come to blows. An organizer of a public protest was walking, talking to someone, when out of the crowd a masked guy came up from behind and punched him in the side of the face. When the man who had just been punched turned to see where the shot had come from, the masked man threw another punch, this time directly to the organizer's mouth, knocking out his front teeth.

The man who got punched was not verbally engaging at all with the man who punched him. He didn't fight back. He didn't provoke anything. Nothing at all like that happened.

But what’s the freedom of speech issue?

 

[Meadmaker]

But what’s the freedom of speech issue?

What, me worry?

 

[Distracted1]

And what is it with calling the rally organizers nazis and fascists? I haven't even figured out who these people are. News reports referred to "well known" speakers, but I hadn't heard of any of them. One news report said that two of the intended speakers were perennial San Francisco mayoral candidates. If they were "perennial", that usually means third party or fringe, as opposed to official Republicans, but I somehow doubt they were the official Nazi Party candidates.

Branding.
"Anti-fa" = People against fascists. Sounds laudable until one examines the circular reasoning used to describe a "fascist". If you don't agree with them- you must be one too since anti-anti-fascist can mean nothing other than "fascist".

 

[Thermal]

What I'm not getting is what is the freedom of speech issue?

I'm taking that as shorthand for a casual Freedom from Censorship in the Public Sphere kind of thing. rather than a Constitutional/Gov't thing.

 

[JoeMorgue]

There is no "censorship" in the public sphere, there's just people who don't want to listen to you and/or give you free use of their soapbox.

 

[Distracted1]

There is no "censorship" in the public sphere, there's just people who don't want to listen to you and/or give you free use of their soapbox.

The "soapbox" is owned by a particular group?

 

[JoeMorgue]

The "soapbox" is owned by a particular group?

If the government literally owns the soapbox, it's censorship.

If the "soapbox" is just general social discourse and (g)you feel like you just deserve an audience, no.

 

[Distracted1]

If the government literally owns the soapbox, it's censorship.

If the "soapbox" is just general social discourse and (g)you feel like you just deserve an audience, no.

And what means is one entitled to use to avoid being a member of that "audience" against ones will?

 

[JoeMorgue]

And what means is one entitled to use to avoid being a member of that "audience" against ones will?

Stay at home with the windows shut like other opinions are the monsters from Bird Box I guess.

 

[Distracted1]

Stay at home with the windows shut like other opinions are the monsters from Bird Box I guess.

Seems excessive.

 

[Darat]

What, me worry?

Check out the opening post.

 

[Darat]

The "soapbox" is owned by a particular group?

Yes, the citizens of the country.

 

[Thermal]

There is no "censorship" in the public sphere, there's just people who don't want to listen to you and/or give you free use of their soapbox.

Censorship can be public or private. Twitter and FB, while privately owed, are widely available for public use, much like a restaurant is a place of public accommodation. A restaurant, being a private entity, can deny service to anyone in theory. In practice, it can be discriminatory. And you know this damn right well.

 

[Thermal]

Over on the Riots, Looting thread, Suburban Turkey has posted evidence that Jack O' Anderson is in fact a Proud Boy. This likely accounts for the huge turnout among antifa types who already knew who he was and had enough background on him to act.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Local news are covering this like it's just some ordinary conservative rally that got disrupted.

The organizer is a Proud Boy, and it was billed as another Proud Boy "beat up the libs" event, but was so poorly organized that nobody showed up. Well, a bunch of antifa teeth collectors showed up, but not enough fascists.

Philip Anderson, in a video advertising his failed rally, said:

all we're going to be doing now is beating the living **** out of all the people trying to stop us

Showed up, got stomped, ran away. Sucks to be a fascist.

https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1317911960143290368

I don't think it is special pleading to say that Proud Boy rallies should be treated differently than others. It's an explicitly fascist group that has a history of committing mass acts of violence and is open about their desire to continue to do so. The purpose of these events if very different than your run-of-the-mill MAGA rally.

Disrupting fascist events is good practice. Fascists hate looking weak, and getting run off by a bunch of San Fran soyboy cucks is very bad for their image. o7 salute our antifa super soldiers.

Proud Boy leadership aren't very pleased this idiot ran such a poorly attended rally that ended with him running off without all his teeth.

Here is Proud Boy leaders Enrique Tarrio and Joe Briggs trashing the organizer who lost his teeth:

https://twitter.com/shoot_the_glass/status/1317884262931034112

 

[Thermal]

Local news are covering this like it's just some ordinary conservative rally that got disrupted.

The organizer is a Proud Boy, and it was billed as another Proud Boy "beat up the libs" event, but was so poorly organized that nobody showed up.

Philip Anderson, in a video advertising his failed rally, said:





Showed up, got stomped, ran away. Sucks to be a fascist.

https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1317911960143290368

I don't think it is special pleading to say that Proud Boy rallies should be treated differently than others. It's an explicitly fascist group that has a history of committing mass acts of violence and is open about their desire to continue to do so.

Disrupting fascist events is good practice. Fascists hate looking weak, and getting run off by a bunch of San Fran soyboy cucks is very bad for their image.

Proud Boy leadership aren't very pleased this idiot ran such a poorly attended rally that ended with him running off without his teeth.

In the video clip, they cut him off in an odd place when he said they were going to beat up anyone who got in their way. Like right in the middle of his sentence, as if maybe the rest of the sentence needed to be excised. Gonna try to find the whole context, but I don't have twitter.

 

[JoeMorgue]

Censorship can be public or private.

Well then I see we've identified the problem.

 

[Thermal]

Anderson, pre-rally: "I stand with the Proud Boys".

Anderson, post-rally: "I thand with the Proud Boyth"