*ACLU raises millions to help combat fascism and Trump’s agenda*
*2 people get stabbed*
*Portland mayor calls for cancelling permits to 2 right-wing demonstrations*
ACLU weighs in: The government cannot revoke or deny a permit based on the viewpoint of the demonstrators. Period.
why are y’all surprised?
ROWLAND: Well, look, I certainly understand that, especially for many of our new members, they may be surprised by the ACLU’s robust First Amendment positions, but it’s certainly not new. Indeed, one of our most high-profile and controversial moments in the ACLU’s history was defending the rights of literal self-proclaimed Nazis to march through the streets of Skokie, a town made up largely of Holocaust survivors.
Okay, taking the ACLU off my list of prospective future employers
Don’t stop supporting an organization that does actual good in the world and combats fascism just because they also support the first amendment. They're combatting fascism, not plugging their ears and yelling over fascism until it shuts up. Silencing fascists doesn’t reduce the amount of fascists in the world
Buddy I want to be a lawyer and I’ll be damned if I ever have to campaign for Nazis’ right to assembly
That’s pretty bad, if you’re going to work in a nation that has precedent-based law.
Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law! More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that! More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.
From A Man For All Seasons.
If people can be denied their rights because of how hated they are, where does that leave the rest of us, when people hate us?
Imagine, just for a moment, how horrifying it would be if fascists or fascist-sympathizers ended up in public office. (I know, terrifying and unrealistic, right?) Wouldn’t you want the laws to be really fucking clear that the people currently holding office don’t get to silence you just because they think you’re bad? I would.
the ACLU has always stood for free speech. and that means everyone.
if you stop fighting for human rights when the person being denied their rights is gross, you have no business calling yourself an activist or speaking about social justice.
(Side note: Apparently the mayor was more suggesting that the right-wing people delay protests a bit because of volatility and risk of riots.)
So, back in the 1970s and 1980s, you know who was having demonstrations, but everyone hated them and thought they were evil and would destroy society if allowed to talk?
The Gays.
Annoyingly, the ACLU didn’t get much enthusiasm for supporting gay rights stuff until the early 90s, although the MCLU in Minnesota was somewhat supportive even early on. But they got better, and they continue to get better on lots of issues, and that’s how liberty works. You don’t defend liberty by putting up with the liberties you already had and understood; you defend it by aggressively pushing the envelope and recognizing more and broader rights.
Here is what none of you guys seem to understand. When Nazis organize like this they aren’t just “speaking”, they are making threats. Their stated goal is the extermination of everyone not like themselves, and these marches are a show of force to prove that they can and that everyone they hate should be afraid. It is not “free speech”, it is terrorism, and comparing them to gay people in the 70′s is absolutely disingenuous. I don’t give a damn what backwards dumbfucks back then “thought” would happen if gay people were treated with respect. They were wrong, plain and simple, and every fact available said the same thing even back then, but they wouldn’t listen. The facts were not on their side, but EVERY fact tells us that Nazis ARE evil and that they WILL destroy lives if they have their way. That is undeniable. When you compare them not being allowed to intimidate minorities to gay people not being allowed to protest policies that were KILLING them, you are saying that facts don’t matter, that truth don’t matter, that REALITY doesn’t matter.
Now that you put it like that, if you define killing as not killing, and not killing as killing, everything you said makes absolute sense, thanks.