I haven’t seen a well sourced number. Much of the coverage I saw seemed to omit it while focusing on overall crowd size. Some threw out unsourced numbers. My Bosnia peacekeeping deployment does make me extra cynical of demonstration sizes in the media. Our rule of thumb was reality was about 5% of media claims for protest sizes. I acknowledge that probably makes me more cynical than most people of claims that aren’t well tied to a source I trust.
ADL was predicting “as many as 500” (with rally organizers having requested a permit for a maximum of 400 before all the media hype kicked in.)
The largest I recall after the fact, without a cite handy, was up to 1,000. That story was one that didn’t include where they drew the number from. It also seemed to employ possible rounding up since the counter protest size was expressed in thousands.
Bizarro world Woodstock, with a massive free pre-publicity campaign and groups that don’t normally come together joining forces, seems to have had 500-1000 actually show up and try out the brown [del]acid[/del] shirt. I’d love better estimates though.
Well, you’re right about that. We are not “The Left”, which is composed of millions of people and isn’t some monolithic singularity of thought and belief.
But it is hard to take anything you say at face value when we know your philosophy is to send all of us to the ovens, right Nazi scum?
Clearly **Latro **is the one that is disappointed that leftist radicals did not kill anyone in the most recent Nazi rallies, can not reach for the “both sides are the same” canard and by the numbers and support the fascists also showed that they do remain a fringe of the fringe of the right.
Lately, besides torches, they seem to hog all the projectors.
Nazis and White Supremacists have the same rights to free speech, free association and freedom of expression as the rest of us.
Some of us just consider it very telling when you’re* defending nazis and attacking liberals in the same sentence or paragraph. Like you’re telling us which side you’re on and who you’d rather freely associate with.
*I’d say ‘generic you’, but on this board we’re talking about Latro, Octopus and now, Budget Player Cadet.
The precise quote that got me banned from the Slatestarcodex reddit most recently:
“I’m not sure it matters once you intentionally align yourself with the ideology of the NSDAP.”
This was in response to someone asking what the nazi’s policy goals were. Also relevant: this post:
Speaking as someone relatively new to SSC (though voraciously reading), I’m more than a little shocked at the political opinions and makeup here. Like… guys, you realize that “rationalism” doesn’t mean “the ability to rationalize, through increasingly nonsensical and meaningless twists of the dark arts, insane beliefs about stupid, long-rejected, and extremely harmful political ideas”, right?
Stop defending neo-nazis.
Stop defending the people who go in front of the press to defend neo-nazis.
Stop it stop it stop it stop it!
So take your stupid fucking assumptions and shove them in the nearest available orifice. My problem is with fuckwits who take a serious allegation like “you’re a nazi”, apply it to anyone they disagree with, and then don’t think things through! Okay, so Latro’s a nazi. And apparently so am I. Now what do we do with nazis? What’s the go-to protocol for dealing with nazis on the left? Oh right. And meanwhile, the accusation of “neo-nazi” is quickly turning into yet another culture war snarl word that anyone on the right can expect to have thrown at them, thus losing any and all power in much the same way that “misogynist” and “racist” have. It’s stupid. Stop it. And if you could stop being a warrior for five fucking seconds, you would realize that I am on your side, and then realize that you are making your side look like exactly the asshole caricature those on the right appreciate being able to fight against!
I have not called you a Nazi and don’t believe that you are one. I haven’t called octopus a nazi, just a nazi sympathizer based on his defense of them that is also all wrapped up in attacking anyone to the left of him.
If you are unsure of where Latro stands, why don’t you research his posts and find out for yourself?
No, we leave that shit for you and your Nazi buddies, all “blood and soil” until it’s time to cry like a bitch on YouTube.
The difference here was the police showed up in force, and gave a very definite message that NO shit would be tolerated. The police here also take a very dim view of ANYone frolicking around brandishing weapons. This ain’t Dead Mule County way back yonder in the holler after all.
The message from the police by their large and well equipped presence was…
To be ruthlessly fair, Charlottesvlle was in a state with “open carry” laws. Which makes it very difficult to demand that protesters are unarmed. So there was no legal basis to make such a requirement, however wise that may have been. Nazi nuts are, well, nuts. Who knows but that they may have been genuinely afraid of being assailed with hacky-sacks or edged steel frisbees ala Oddjob. In some cases, hoping so. Who knows what squamous and reptilian thoughts slither in their, ah, “minds”?
I am still of a mind to let them do their thing without interference, let them be seen, heard, and judged. But I am a reasonable man, and my opinion is always in the minority.
And yet, at the same time, a very large and serious police presence, a police presence that is WILLING to um ya know actually keep the peace instead of just standing there like lumps…
