Fox 31 is reporting tonight that the KKK will have a rally in Nahunta in Brantley County this Saturday.
I’m not going to tell you exactly when, because if you’re the type of person who would actually go to one of these events voluntarily (ie, you’re not a reporter or other person whose job mandates your attendance), I really don’t care if you never read this site again.
The KKK and other racist extremist groups, such as the Nation of Islam, Black Panthers, Aryan Nation, and others, are the lowest of the low – I honestly debate whether I rank child rapists as higher or lower than these idiots. I don’t care if the Governor of Georgia is a member of the KKK – my assertion stands. These people are absolute frakin imbeciles who I can only pray to God never procreate. I would say more, but I try to keep this site relatively clean.
With that said, these groups present an interesting conundrum for true lovers of Liberty. Our natural instinct is to aggress against these people or to deny them their right to say whatever vile moronic statement they think passes as a coherent thought. But if we actually do either of those actions, are we truly any better than them?
Because we ARE better than them, we get caught in the position of having to defend their right to “speak” their evil neanderthal grunts. It is an exercise in the “Top of My Lungs” Principle – that free speech means acknowledging a man who is standing center stage advocating that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.
Just know when we defend these idiots’ right to speak, it doesn’t mean we agree with it in any way.
BTW: I actually found a youtube clip of “The Speech” from The American President that I reference so much. Here it is, for those who have never seen it/forgotten it:
As much as I disagree with what they stand for and as much as I disagree with some of the positions that they take, I have to agree with you that right, wrong, or indifferent, they are entitled to advocate whatever they choose. As for your clip from “The American President (one of my favorite movies), well it pretty well says it all. I would never burn an American flag; however, people have the right to express themselves by doing so. I abhor the Klan; but, it is there right to protest for their beliefs. People do have to acknowledge that right.
I think we are all on the same page on this issue. Organizations like the KKK and Black Panthers, test the boundaries of Free Speech and of Freedom itself.
But, would you want to live in a nation where social ills like extreme racism weren’t publicly promoted because they were on the list of forbidden topics? Or would you be prouder to live in a nation where any topic could be discussed and the overwhelming majority of your countrymen upon becoming aware of them, chose not to adopt extremist racist views? Thomas Milton said in defense of freedom of the press, “I cannot praise a cloistered and untested virtue.”
Forbidding offending speech is simply an attempt at thought control. Something the government should not be able to do. Who will decide what is offensive and what is not? Don’t ignore the unintended consequences of such a course. Prohibition provides a mystique to dark causes – a thrill to the rebellious youth – a mechanism for revolt against authoritarianism. For example, swastikas have been forbidden in Germany since WWII. That may have provoked the birth of the skinhead movement and their adoption of the swastika because it provokes the authorities. It may be human nature to rebel against overbearing authority.
So we can police their violence. We can speak out against their views. We can let our own feelings be known. We can reassure and comfort the targeted. But we cannot silence them without eventually surrendering our own freedom.
What a thought provoking post. In this country, a person mostly has the right to think what he or she wants and most reasonable people would support that right. When thoughts turn into illegal actions, it is a different matter. We all have strong opinions and at times the majority decides to move in a direction that others do not like. What then?
Last night, I watch the PBS documentary on the Assassination of Lincoln and thought about Booth’s reaction when he learned that the nation didn’t consider him a hero—most of the nation. Disagree, yes. Take radical, violent action, no. Then again, the John Brown section of the same documentary would make for fascinating parlor discussion.
People feel strongly during our elections but do they respect the results. Of course, opposition will continue and is healthy but declaring that so and so isn’t the real governor of say Alabama because I like the other guy is un-American in my opinion.
Jeff, college today is sometimes online and distance learning but I hope the undergrads at Darton, ASU, Fort Valley, VSU, ABAC and GSW debate and discuss in the dorms or on the college square the groups you put on your extremist list and the groups they would have on theirs. Then, I hope they shake hands and go for wings. One healthy thing about vocal groups (in my opinion) is that they say aloud what others are thinking and that is the first step to understanding.