Who was responsible for the violence in Charlottesville? Here's what witnesses say
After reading this and trying to educate myself about what's going on - I actually don't think Trump was entirely incorrect - actually, what he said is mostly correct, technically....hear me out...Because in the U.S. context of free speech, even neo-nazis are allowed to assemble and spew hateful bile, as long as there's no physical violence - as much as we may find that appalling as Canadians - which I do find appalling. Yet, there was violence from both sides - it looks to me like a bunch of angry idiots being tough guys, slugging it out with each other. With sticks and bats and tear gas. It was really insane.
Then a really disturbed racist idiot drives through the crowd and somebody gets killed and several get injured. The alt-left cannot be blamed for his actions, at all.
But they can be blamed for contributing to the overall violence there.
...the roots of racist violence run deep - propagated by the white nationalists that have re-emerged - and being allowed to promote that hatred is to blame, imo. When the same group who used to burn crosses on peoples' front lawns and burn people's houses down, show up with torches, with one of their well known leaders, at a monument for a racist confederate general - some dressed in battle fatigues acting like well organized militia - that is shocking and upsetting and I do not think they should be legally allowed to do that. But they are. And I think responsibility for what happened in Charlottesville is because they are allowed to do that. It abuses the notion of "free" speech because it's a fearful reminder to those whose freedom was only recently won.
After reading this and trying to educate myself about what's going on - I actually don't think Trump was entirely incorrect - actually, what he said is mostly correct, technically....hear me out...Because in the U.S. context of free speech, even neo-nazis are allowed to assemble and spew hateful bile, as long as there's no physical violence - as much as we may find that appalling as Canadians - which I do find appalling. Yet, there was violence from both sides - it looks to me like a bunch of angry idiots being tough guys, slugging it out with each other. With sticks and bats and tear gas. It was really insane.
Then a really disturbed racist idiot drives through the crowd and somebody gets killed and several get injured. The alt-left cannot be blamed for his actions, at all.
But they can be blamed for contributing to the overall violence there.
...the roots of racist violence run deep - propagated by the white nationalists that have re-emerged - and being allowed to promote that hatred is to blame, imo. When the same group who used to burn crosses on peoples' front lawns and burn people's houses down, show up with torches, with one of their well known leaders, at a monument for a racist confederate general - some dressed in battle fatigues acting like well organized militia - that is shocking and upsetting and I do not think they should be legally allowed to do that. But they are. And I think responsibility for what happened in Charlottesville is because they are allowed to do that. It abuses the notion of "free" speech because it's a fearful reminder to those whose freedom was only recently won.
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