# KKK wants to ‘adopt’ highway in Georgia **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 11, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836 "2012-06-11T17:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/101 "2012-06-20T15:19:15Z")
While that’s a perfectly valid argument in theory, “frightened white folks who want to preserve white culture” don’t adopt the Klan name. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/102 "2012-06-20T16:45:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > While that’s a perfectly valid argument in theory, “frightened white folks who want to preserve white culture” don’t adopt the Klan name. Actually, that is the best description of the overwhelming number of people who join the Klan. What other motivation do the Klan have? They do not have, (and will never again get), the political power that they had in the 1920s to actually run a state. Their only reason for existence is to gather together to drink and swap stories of their own oppression for being “white.” Even the few branches that have acted in violence in recent years are driven by fear that they are going to be harmed by the presence of people who are not “white” or not “Christian” or who were born outside the U.S. The hatred they espouse is pretty much a classic case of hatred inspired by fear. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/103 "2012-06-20T16:53:29Z")
So was the hatred they espoused in 1880, or 1920. That’s not the point. Everyone knows what the Klan is about, and that it’s not limited to protecting white people. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/104 "2012-06-20T17:07:38Z")
So what is the Klan about–aside from protecting white foilks from things that scare them? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/105 "2012-06-20T18:02:54Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Again, the KKK is not a monolith. If the particular group has advocated breaking the law or has engaged in illegal activity, then it might have forfeited its rights to getting its name on a sign. If it is nothing more than a dozen frightened white folks who talk about “preserving” white culture, they are not breaking any laws or infringing on any rights and deserve the opportunity to serve their community in the same way that anyone else might. (There are thirteen separate Klan groups organized in Georgia.) I think we are in agreement here. For a specific group to advocate breaking the law is reason enough to deny such a request. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/106 "2012-06-20T18:05:38Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Don’t try to make this about me vs. hundreds of years of tradition. But it IS about hundreds of years of tradition. > [@](#): > > Not that I favor it all the time, but there are plenty of reasons, good reasons, to suspend or eliminate certain types of speech. But yours is not one of them. Never has been. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836/107 "2012-06-20T18:07:24Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Fuck that, supress and stamp that shit out! Its not that its simply morally objectionable, but proliferation of such speech actually harms real people. I detest the Klan. Really, really hate them. But dude, lay off free speech. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk-wants-to-adopt-highway-in-georgia/624836.md?page=5)