Surely if there was a political element it would have been noticed. No, I’m afraid that this is typical behaviors from humans in general.
I’ll certainly not excuse the behavior of the bad seeds in the group but I must say that the instigator acted recklessly and selfishly put others into a more dangerous situation because his ego was bigger than his morality. I have nothing but distain for someone like that. Who he is voting for has nothing to do with it. He was there to grandstand, “help, help, I’m being repressed.”
But self censorship is necessary if you fear your actions will harm others. I couldn’t care less about him risking the results of exercising his freedom of speech but I do care about him forcing that risk to innocent people to do so. It’s like yelling fire in a crowded theater. It’s not the risk to your free speech right that’s the issue. It’s the consequences to others of your actions that’s the issue. I don’t see people clamoring about that self censorhip one whit nor do people feel that freedom of speech is trivial because of it.
Imagine that, real life has a don’t be a jerk rule too.
Right you seemed to have clearly stated you believe people shouldn’t exercise their freedom if a mob threatens violence. Am I reading your statements wrong?
So the actions of a wild animal are used to justify repression by human mobs? Is this point of view advocated because the mob is left wing and anti Trump? You sure you want politics to devolve into whichever group can round up the most guns dictates what rights are allowed?
Hmmm… I notice that you both failed to answer my question AND made a lot of assumptions about what I think and might want. Has this been a winning debate strategy for you?
Don’t be silly. I could link to the NY Times about Obama critiquing left wing censorship on college campuses and you’d have something snarky to say about the source. I’m not hopping through your hoops to link information you know. Or the objection that no true liberal feels that way. Or an endless debate about what the left is and isn’t as if there is a definitive source to answer that. It’s a quagmire.
Has it? I don’t know. Is my purpose convincing elucidator or Snowboarder Bo. Is your purpose convincing me?
All I know is debating a person should require a different set of skills than dealing with an angry gorilla. Exercising rights shouldn’t rely on the acquiescence of the mob. That’s no different than black not being able to vote due to the KKK. It’s uncivilized.
Maybe I read too much into your gorilla comment. Perhaps that was meant as a critique of the mob and if so I apologize.
Except of course for opposition to pornography, or blasphemy, or public religious behavior (and building Mosques) by Muslims, or many more types of speech that some conservatives oppose.
Asshole liberals oppose free speech for some things they don’t like, and asshole conservatives do too. And non-assholes in both groups don’t oppose free speech. I see no evidence that there are more of these assholes on the left than on the right.
Of course it’s silly to compare The Trump to Adolf-with-the-Moustache. Unless you want to do so in the context of
[QUOTE=Karl Marx]
Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.
[/QUOTE]
But, while Trump is just an asshole/clown, the passions we see in America’s political divisions this cycle are very unsettling. Still, I have more sympathy with the anti-Trumpists, concerned as they are with the possible election of an unqualified and bombastic oaf, than with the Trumpists, driven only by an inchoate rage they couldn’t even explain themselves.
Of course Trump is an asshole. But to blame him for his supporters’ behavior would be like blaming John Belushi if adults started imitating his on-screen behavior.
“Undeniable” hunh? You, sir, are a good example of the ignorant prejudices that have degraded America’s political dialog.
I believe a person should weigh the results of his actions before taking action. I do not believe that every freedom need be expressed 100% of the time. I believe this is a misguided view. The only importance of exercising his freedom is if he feels that his ability to state his views at that moment trumps all other considerations. I do not think that deliberately disrupting a gathering of those of different opinions trumps the safety of either the police who have to get involved or the people there not looking for a fight.
Really, the deal is that no one else should restrict your freedom of speech except you yourself. I didn’t say that anyone should have stopped this fool. I’m saying he should have considered the situation and choose to exercise self control. He chose not to do this but rather to create a bit of propaganda instead which is the rub. It’s not about free speech at all; it’s all political theater.
Looks like Trump’s post-clinching bounce is fading. He’s getting jittery, overreacting to Kristol’s rumor of a 3rd party challenge. The Trump U scandal is raising its head again, causing Trump in another unforced error, whining about the judge’s ancestry. Even after a terrible couple weeks for Hillary, Trump is nowhere closer to pulling off the upset.
