Just read: "Unfettered free speech led to the rise of fascism in America."
I can see how folks got there. But. This is inaccurate.
Unfettered free speech would be a better situation than what we actually experienced. What we actually experienced was the police & courts consistently preferring & protecting the speech of fascists over everyone else's... for decades.
Anyone who has been to a nazi protest in the USA has seen lines of riot cops protecting them. Not every fringe group gets that.
The rise of fascism in the USA has been primarily enabled by multiple generations of neo-nazi organizers infiltrating police departments all across the country.
This, combined with the extralegal powers granted to police by the court system essentially delivered liberal democratic society to the fascists on a platter.
The voting shit just doesn't matter that much if the police & courts are compromised at the highest levels.
Like, one reason we don't see more progressive candidates at the local level, especially in smaller towns... is the ones who do stand for elections get a lot of realistic death threats from heavily-armed fascists.
These candidates get essentially zero support from the Democratic Party or local law enforcement. So, many of them drop out, because of the credible death threats. What would you do?
Do those folks have freedom of speech?
@sidereal@kolektiva.social Anybody who thinks we have too much free speech hasn't said enough of the "wrong" (right) things.
@coop@denton.social @sidereal@kolektiva.social
i try to explain we don't have freedom of speech (or association or to petition your government for redress of grievances) because anyone who's ever been to a protest knows the cops will beat your ass and shoot chemical weapons at you if you try
it's very frustrating talking to my father who solemnly avows freedom of speech as sacred even if he finds it distasteful like nazis on college campuses and trying to get him to understand why that "free speech" is considered sacred and protected but palestinian protesters get the boot, if not literally a thousands boots
@coop@denton.social @sidereal@kolektiva.social
i try to explain we don't have freedom of speech (or association or to petition your government for redress of grievances) because anyone who's ever been to a protest knows the cops will beat your ass and shoot chemical weapons at you if you try
it's very frustrating talking to my father who solemnly avows freedom of speech as sacred even if he finds it distasteful like nazis on college campuses and trying to get him to understand why that "free speech" is considered sacred and protected but palestinian protesters get the boot, if not literally a thousands boots
@crow@irlqt.me @sidereal@kolektiva.social @coop@denton.social
The people of Standing Rock petitioned the government for a redress of grievances and had water cannons turned on them. Students at Kent State were murdered. So were Fred Hampton and MLK Jr. Abbie Hoffman and Timothy Leary were subjected to such outrageous FBI harassment that they had to go on the run. The 1999 Seattle WTO protesters were beaten, tear-gassed, and arrested. So were the Occupy Wall Street protesters. All these movements were crushed by our government but the first amendment is important, right? Bullshit. I mean, if you just look at The House Un-American Activities Committee or the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program and its list of victims or the Sedition Act of 1918 the American government has a LONG history of ignoring the first Amendment.
@crow@irlqt.me @sidereal@kolektiva.social @coop@denton.social
The people of Standing Rock petitioned the government for a redress of grievances and had water cannons turned on them. Students at Kent State were murdered. So were Fred Hampton and MLK Jr. Abbie Hoffman and Timothy Leary were subjected to such outrageous FBI harassment that they had to go on the run. The 1999 Seattle WTO protesters were beaten, tear-gassed, and arrested. So were the Occupy Wall Street protesters. All these movements were crushed by our government but the first amendment is important, right? Bullshit. I mean, if you just look at The House Un-American Activities Committee or the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program and its list of victims or the Sedition Act of 1918 the American government has a LONG history of ignoring the first Amendment.
sidereal
