_________________
Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.- JD Vance
If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.- JD Vance on the J-6 insurrectionists

Who the fuck walks around with a banana?

_________________

A Nazi and the man with the yellow hat

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

That sounds like the start of an interesting joke.

_________________

People who escaped.

_________________

_________________
Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.- JD Vance
If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.- JD Vance on the J-6 insurrectionists

No, offensiveness does not qualify as fighting words. To classify it as such (or, even worse as you put it, "Nazi paraphernalia") would cut at the heart of free speech.

Let the offensive dickheads scream offensive shit at the abyss, go home and eat cake.

The difference would be if the stupid Nazi ranting became personal/acute. You can't run around saying "I want to kill you, [offensive slur]!" and then cry about free speech protections. People are entitled to defend themselves from specific threats such as those.

_________________
Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

It's depressing this needs to be pointed out.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

If offensiveness doesn't qualify then no words are fighting words. That makes Nas sad.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I feel like some of you guys live in a classroom and not the real world. In the real world, if you walk around in public wearing swastikas and antagonizing folks, you'll probably eventually get punched. I don't see the issue here.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I agree. I probably wouldn't do the punching unless you yelled at my kids but you have to expect it. Just like those fuckers who used to show up at funerals of dead soldiers yelling crap about the gays.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

And anyone who physically assaults those people should face legal repercussions.

_________________

Total Libertarian here...

_________________

They should get a medal. If your loved one got killed serving their country and some asshole decides to yell a bunch of hate at you and your family someone should stomp a knot in their ass.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

That's Fascism.

The people who yell that are scum and I hope they rot in hell, but neither you nor I have the right to muzzle them.

_________________

Okay, Brother Martin. You stand there and watch, I'll try to knock his teeth down his throat. We both win.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Not sure what this means. It really has nothing to do with politics. Just common sense.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Who decides what is "common sense" in terms of free speech?

_________________

I don't know man, whoever is present at the given time. This isn't worth a debate.

Yes, it's wrong to punch someone for saying offensive shit. No, I'm not surprised that someone saying and wearing offensive things and being antagonistic got punched. No, I don't feel bad for the guy.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Nobody is arguing what will likely happen ... play stupid games, win stupid prizes. That's not particularly insightful.

It's a bad road to go down if we (who is 'we', by the way?) give a blessing to physically assault certain folks because we don't like what they say ... after all, they probably don't like what we say, so are they allowed to physically assault us? Why not? Because we say so? Ludicrous.

Seems that the only line of demarcation set here is disdain for people saying things we find reprehensible. Given that 'we' and what things are considered 'reprehensible' are exceedingly fungible, that's probably eventually not going to work out well for anyone. Just common sense.

edit: I see FF posted a more sensible reply.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I'm not the government. That shit doesn't apply at my family's funeral.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I don't know what this means, but I can tell you that, having grown up in a poor, rural area, I've had no less than 5 friends (two of them VERY close friends) die in combat, I've lived the urge to curb stomp these protesters. Several of my friends and I would have done it at one funeral, too... Luckily, we were held back by older, wiser men than we were. And those men were right. Free speech doesn't get suspended because of how outraged you are, nor does stifling it make you feel better.

_________________

I mean, sure. But that goes back to the first sentence of my first post. This is an academic response. I'm not blessing/approving it, I'm just stating the plainly obvious(never said it was insightful)

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

_________________
I once got busy in a Sur la Table bathroom

As someone of both Polish and Jewish heritage (I suppose I'm all-purpose Central European), it's hard to see out-and-proud Nazis and not want to split their shitty heads wide open. Imagine how amazing it would feel to take a baseball bat to their skulls and just ruin them! I'm sure plenty of people feel this way no matter where their family trees lie, and I know we can't let society devolve into everyone assaulting one another for whatever reason. But arguably the single just war our country engaged in outside the Civil War was to take out genocidal fascists wearing swastikas. How much protection do we owe their imitators? If announcing your allegiance with white supremacy and the mass murder to ensure it isn't an incitement to violence, nothing is.

_________________

Let's dig up the guys at Normandy that died killing Nazis if they did it to protect the rights of future US Nazis to walk free in Seattle or if they did it to protect the rights of future US dudes to punch literal Nazis in the face in Seattle. I'm sure their answer will be just as stupid as my hypothetical question.

we owe them the same protections as everyone else (provided they don't break the law)

Make it a law not to be a Nazi. It should be really easy not to break. I fail to break it every day.

_________________

You're a rational man, CH. I know you are. And I see where you're coming from, and I understand the emotion behind wanting to fuck this guy up. I can be very emotional, and I was even more emotional when I was younger. There was a time when I really would have taken a bat to someone claiming to be a Nazi.

But it just can't happen in a civilized society. Win in the arena of ideas. Ignore the grotesque ones and celebrate the inclusive ones.

The minute someone beats the shit out of a Nazi, Nazis become more sympathetic. They gain followers.

The minute people fight assholes with violence, the assholes become legitimate. Be above them. It took me a long time to realize this, but I really believe it

_________________