# So I busted up a political rally this week... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115 "2010-04-23T16:44:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/41 "2010-04-27T16:50:47Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Racial slurs and namecalling have nothing to do with political views; they were immediate attacks on folks who showed up in the room by an innocent mistake. No, it’s not an attack, it’s an insult. And it isn’t very pleasant to be on the receiving end of one, and this group picked a particularly reviling one to use to satisfy some base need to be cruel, but insults just aren’t the kind of injury the law intervenes to protect people from. And sister, if namecalling is an attack in your world, thank your lucky stars, because plenty of people have it much worse. Nor do we require political expression to be especially persuasive, presentable, or even well thought-out. One’s man vulgarity is another man’s lyric, as Harlan, J., noted in _Cohen v. California_, which overturned a conviction for disturbing the peace of Cohen, who was caught wearing a jacket emblazoned with “Fuck the Draft” in a Los Angeles courthouse. This isn’t a particularly cogent argument either, but it’s political nature is unmistakable. As it is in an expression of racial rancor. We all know what “Fuck Whitey” means; it’s a statement of exasperation with the slow progress of racial minorities in America and a call to do something about it. It is fatuousness, or worse intellectual dishonesty, to pretend a dual to that call doesn’t exist for white supremacists. It is an exceptionally distasteful view. But I suppose I just have enough confidence in my side to believe we don’t need to ride roughshod over the First Amendment in order for my side—opposition to racial strife and division—to prevail. Indeed, I actually hold the quaint idea that striving for racial harmony and reconciliation is the _majority_ view and the innate hope of the great many good-hearted people of America. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/42 "2010-04-27T16:59:55Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > And sister, if namecalling is an attack in your world, thank your lucky stars, because plenty of people have it much worse. If so, then nobody should ever get prosecuted or otherwise punished for anything less than murder. What the hell is with the black and white view? Look, this is all just hairsplitting. You yourself made an exception for disorderly conduct, and whether or not calling someone nigger constitutes an assault, it most certainly is disorderly conduct. And sister? Where the hell did that come from? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/43 "2010-04-27T17:15:15Z")
> [@NicePete](#): > > I suppose what I’m having a hard time with is the snide attitude you take toward people who have an emotional response toward racism. Characterizing their reaction with the buzzwords “political correctness” tends to indicate contempt for their attitude. > > Of course, it must be nice as a “conservative” not having any groupthink going on or any platitudes you have to espouse prior to getting to the meat of a discussion, especially in the political arena. You guys can say whatever you want whenever you want! Unless it’s critical of Rush. Of course, a brief search of my posting history would reveal nuggets like: [1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9947748&postcount=2): > [@I'm A Liberal But...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-liberal-but/454483/2): > > I can’t stand Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh. So it seems I didn’t get the memo. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/44 "2010-04-27T17:17:35Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Look, this is all just hairsplitting. You yourself made an exception for disorderly conduct, and whether or not calling someone nigger constitutes an assault, it most certainly is disorderly conduct. So you believe that someone can be arrested and convicted merely for calling another person that word? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/45 "2010-04-27T17:29:45Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So you believe that someone can be arrested and convicted merely for calling another person that word? It’s called “context” **Bricker**. What would a reasonable person think who wandered into that meeting to be confronted by > [@](#): > > a man with the microphone on the podium said “Who let the niggers in?” followed by a cheer, and other mixed calls of “welfare” and “anti-christ president” and “socialism”. This was not a random insult on the street. note also that the man calling out “nigger” was not arrested or convicted. He was asked to leave the premises for causing a disturbance. Hardly the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/46 "2010-04-27T17:31:42Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So it seems I didn’t get the memo. Nor did Michael Steele. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/47 "2010-04-27T17:33:30Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So you believe that someone can be arrested and convicted merely for calling another person that word? You can be arrested for “merely” saying the word fire…in certain contexts. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/48 "2010-04-27T17:44:00Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > It’s called “context” **Bricker**. What would a reasonable person think who wandered into that meeting to be confronted by > > This was not a random insult on the street. Excellent point! In context, uttered contemporaneously with remarks about the President and various socioeconomic systems, the offensive epithet’s political nature is plainly revealed, and therefore its use is well protected by long settled First Amendment jurisprudence as core political speech. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/49 "2010-04-27T17:52:23Z")
It seems to me that **Translucent Daydream** ’s primary responsibility was preventing a fight, seeing as how if you have a crowd of people who start yelling racial slurs at another group in the same room, it’s probably going to get ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/50 "2010-04-27T17:52:51Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Excellent point! In context, uttered contemporaneously with remarks about the President and various socioeconomic systems, the offensive epithet’s political nature is plainly revealed, and therefore its use is well protected by long settled First Amendment jurisprudence as core political speech. Not quite. The people who wandered into the meeting by mistake did not hear “remarks about the President and various socioeconomic systems” etc… and what had transpired before their arrival. What they heard was: > [@](#): > > a man with the microphone on the podium said “Who let the niggers in?” followed by a cheer, and other mixed calls of “welfare” and “anti-christ president” and “socialism”. In this context, the man with the microphone was using words that were potentially an incitement to riot, and was thus committing a disturbance. He was inflaming a situation (that being, black people mistakenly coming into the room), and inciting a potentially hostile situation with his words. Because the group was then causing a disturbance, they were asked to leave. They were not asked to leave at other meetings (when they were presumably also espousing noxious views) because they were not causing a disturbance then. ---
**Author:** ![Dolukhanova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@Dolukhanova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dolukhanova)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115/51 "2010-04-27T19:16:33Z")
Any articles in the press about this incident? Seems like the sort of thing that would draw attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-busted-up-a-political-rally-this-week/537115.md?page=2)