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5 comments

[–] PhunkyPlatypus 2 points (+4|-2)

The thing is, they generally beat up those advocating genocide against people who don't look like them.

[–] Dii_Casses 5 points (+5|-0) Edited

Many problems with this.

Antifa wants to beat those people up, but there are, at most, a couple thousand such people in the entire country. For argument's sake I'll give an overly generous estimate of 10,000 (KKK membership was 3,000-8,000, last I checked). In a population of 330 million that comes to 0.003%. 3 in 1,000 100,000. A virtually non-existent fraction of the population. So when they start throwing blows, there a huge chance that they've mistakenly targeted an innocent.

Worse yet, if you object when they beat up a "fascist" that is taken as proof that you are fascist as well. Because Nazism is completely indefensible to anyone that is not a Nazi.

We have a comprehensive set of rules in place to determine what misdeeds society can and will address punitively (the courts), and more rules to keep that system from arbitrarily lashing out at innocent bystanders (habeas corpus, presumption of innocence, yadda yadda).

And at the end of the day, we've determined that Advocating for things is not a punishable offense. Let them advocate genocide in the open, so that everyone can see just how horrible those people are. When you punch a neo-Nazi, you don't change his mind. He'll just spread his monstrous philosophies somewhere else. And when he spreads his absurdities, you will have no opportunity for rebuttle because you aren't there.

“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” ― H.L. Mencken