These folks wanted their First Amendment Freedom of Speech in Chancellorsville. |
Note—I still have one last thing to deal with after my
musings about the events in Charlottesville—revisiting my highly unpopular
First Amendment absolutism. I tackled
this topic before and got reamed. I guarantee
it will be worse this time even though I have refined and modified some of my
thinking. Here is a post based one from way back
in 2012 and adapted for present reality and my evolved opinion.
Every
writer, whether he wishes to admit it or not, occasionally commits a turn of phrase that seems to him so perfect that he just has to stand
back and admire it. I came up with one of my personal such favorites more
than thirty years ago in a letter
describing a particularly obstreperous fellow
worker: “He’s such a flaming asshole
that he can’t sit down without igniting
the furniture.” Not Shakespeare
perhaps, but certainly a classic insult.
The events in Charlottesville and
the reaction to it are just the most
recent things that have brought this back to mind.
There are certainly no greater
flaming assholes than the collection
of knuckle dragging turds, neo-Nazis,
Klansmen, White Nationalists, and Alt-right
prep boys who organized the Unite
the Right events in Charlottesville.
The gathering was ostensibly to
protest the planned removal of a monument
to Robert E. Lee which they said
was an attack on their heritage. The rally and the inflammatory speeches that would be given there, and the display of Confederate Battle Flags, Nazi and fascist banners and emblems,
and Ku Klux Klan regalia was also
painted as an expression of their First
Amendment Rights to freedom of
speech and assembly which they claimed were under attack by a liberal/communist/Jewish conspiracy.
Naturally there were calls for the City to deny permits for
hate speech and ban the demonstrations, especially communities who were not only the targets of the expected hate speech but
had historically suffered violence and oppression at the hands of those who followed the same ideologies and symbols—Blacks,
Jews, immigrants, and the LGBT
community.
The city understood that the assembly and speech, as dangerous and offensive was
it was protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution. It was well
settled law that expression, especially
political speech, cannot be used as the basis for denying permits. But there seemed to be precedent for placing
certain restriction on protest
gatherings in the interest of public
safety. On that basis the city
denied a permit to gather at the small
Emancipation Park—formerly Robert E.
Lee Park—and instead offered space in a much larger city park just a few
blocks away where the Unite the Right Rally could also be physically separated from the thousands
of counter demonstrators expected. Many,
including the local press, business community, and traditional civil rights organizations, thought
that this was both sensible and reasonable.
It is true that such restrictions
have become common. It is also true that
the left has been far more frequently
the target of them than even the most
menacing and often armed displays
of than the right. Think of the so-called caged free-speech zones now routinely set up blocks from
national political party conventions,
campaign events, appearances by the President, and major
international gatherings economic and summit
gatherings. On the other hand abortion clinic patients and
staff have been sheltered from aggressive anti-abortion protestors by safety or protective zones that allow clear
access to the facilities.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has always opposed
those restrictions regardless of content of the speech or the politics of the protestors. So it was no surprise that they took
the case of Unite the Right and challenged the city’s refusal to issue
permits for Emancipation Park. They
argued that their client’s rights were violated because the statue in the park was the issue they were addressing. The court agreed and issued a late, emergency order to the city to grant use of
Emancipation Park.
The
ACLU was promptly on everybody’s shit list and denounced in often heated terms
by the city, press, and irate anti-racists. There were some noisy and high profile
membership resignations and fundraising
boycotts were being organized on social
media in the blink of an eye. ACLU lawyers and officers were harassed and received death threats. But then everyone
gets death threats these days for saying
anything more controversial than good morning. It’s the American
way circa 2017.
Of course just months ago the ACLU was the darling
of the same pack of dogs now snapping at their heels. When the Cheeto
in Charge came to power the ACLU was everywhere pissing on dozens of constitutional arson fires set by the feckless President. In short order they blocked every attempt to instate his Muslim ban, protected
immigrants, staved off attacks on
LGBT rights, parried assaults on voting rights to name just a few
examples. Folks were so grateful than in the early months of the new administration
the ACLU racked up tens of thousands of
new members and unexpected millions
of dollars in financial
contributions.
In 1977 the ACLU secured the right of the notorious Illinois Nazis to march in heavily Jewish Skokie, Illinois, home to many Holocaust survivors. |
It should have come as no surprise, however.
The ACLU shed members like a
mangy dog’s fur when they helped the Illinois
Nazis obtain a permit to march in
the Chicago suburb of Skokie, a heavily Jewish community with many Holocaust survivors back in 1977.
They have always taken cases regardless
of the content of the speech under attack including case involving such
despicable outfits as the Klan and the violent
anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.
Of course the reality on the street was that a violent confrontation between the White Nationalists and their
opponents was inevitable. Could it have been limited if the two sides were pent
up and separated by ranks of militarized police with shield, batons, gas, and rubber bullets? Perhaps.
Or the situation could have degenerated
into a three way brawl. But it was a
done deal when authorities closed the park after scuffling broke out and forced both sides into the streets and
then stood back and let them go at it.
Heather
Heyer’s death cannot be laid, as one left wing
critic wrote, “laid on the altar of free
speech fetishism” nor was the ACLU her assassin.
The violence in Charlottesville was
not the only recent example of folks on one side or another of our great political, moral, and ethical divide trying to shut down the
speech of their foes. Without elaboration the list includes:
· Campus
groups demanding the firing of professors, banning
of speakers, banning other campus
organization, or censoring student
publication—by both sides.
· Moves in Congress and
several state legislatures to
actually criminalize advocacy for a boycott of Israeli businesses and products as inherently anti-Semitic
· Moves in several state
legislatures to make blocking
highways—a common protest method of the Black Lives Matter movement—a felony
and giving legal protection to drivers who ram protestors.
· So-called Religious Freedom laws that give an out to businesses and even individual public officials who refuse to serve Gays, lesbians, and transgender
folk or even those who advocate for
them.
· Gag orders with heavy penalties
for public officials who speak out
about the Trump administration’s dismantling
of environmental, health, and safety regulation and the stripping of science information from government
web sites and publications.
· Nearly continuous
demands to block or ban social
network content for an ever growing
laundry list of reasons.
And that only scratches the surface.
After much consideration, I have to come
down on the side of the god-given right
to be an asshole.
Everyone is somebody else’s asshole—at least everyone with the requisite combination of strong opinions and backbone. That means that there is always someone out there that yearns to shut us up and someone we want to muzzle in turn. In my case small armies would like to slap the gag on me. There was the sputtering “Let’s turn Iraq to a sea of glass” guy who denounced my namby-pamby treason at an anti-war vigil a few years ago. There are the anonymous phone callers every time I wrote a letter to the editor in support of marriage equality. There are the proper Catholic ladies who hissed “baby killer” at me when I used to work at the Democratic Party booth at the County Fair. Any vague mention of gun violence most reliably resulted in threats to me and my family. My support of Black Lives Matter sends internet trolls into ferocious rages. I could go on, but you get the picture. Almost any one of these folks would be overjoyed to have the government arrange for either my silence or disappearance.
Everyone is somebody else’s asshole—at least everyone with the requisite combination of strong opinions and backbone. That means that there is always someone out there that yearns to shut us up and someone we want to muzzle in turn. In my case small armies would like to slap the gag on me. There was the sputtering “Let’s turn Iraq to a sea of glass” guy who denounced my namby-pamby treason at an anti-war vigil a few years ago. There are the anonymous phone callers every time I wrote a letter to the editor in support of marriage equality. There are the proper Catholic ladies who hissed “baby killer” at me when I used to work at the Democratic Party booth at the County Fair. Any vague mention of gun violence most reliably resulted in threats to me and my family. My support of Black Lives Matter sends internet trolls into ferocious rages. I could go on, but you get the picture. Almost any one of these folks would be overjoyed to have the government arrange for either my silence or disappearance.
I, of course, have my own list of knuckle dragging buffoons,
crackpots, and hate spewing bigots who I am sure need the deft application of a dirty gym sock shoved far down offending
throats.
In the end my cherished right to be obnoxious to some folk depends on having to put up with the offensive speech of others. I do not trust any government to make a call on what is permitted or not. In this sense I am a First Amendment absolutist in this country and fervent defender of free speech everywhere in the globe.
In the end my cherished right to be obnoxious to some folk depends on having to put up with the offensive speech of others. I do not trust any government to make a call on what is permitted or not. In this sense I am a First Amendment absolutist in this country and fervent defender of free speech everywhere in the globe.
But that does not mean any asshole
has to be “tolerated” in the sense
of being allowed to proceed unchallenged
or outrage unchecked by public. The best part of free speech is our to his absolute right to call an asshole an
asshole to his face and hold him up
to ridicule and scorn. The truism
is that the best weapon against a bad
idea is a better one.
We have seen this in action in the literally thousands of vigils and marches that spontaneously
arose after the Charlottesville spectacle.
The planned Klan rally in
Boston was a prime example. Neither the
City or State tried to shut it down, nor indeed authorities were bound to protect the rights of the
racists. But 40,000 took to the streets to oppose them, dwarfing the few dozen who showed up, keeping most of the self-proclaimed leaders away, and ending the
event hours earlier. Our side’s free
speech, our people power, was more
effective than any official action. And
in the aftermath 35 planned hate events in other cities were canceled by their
sponsors.
But even the ACLU had second thoughts after
Charlottesville. They were especially
responsive to complaints by members and supporters that they had enabled the hate groups to menace counter demonstrators with semi-automatic military style
weapons. That was a more than implied threat of lethal
violence. Last week the group’s executive director announced that the
ACLU would no longer represent groups
who planned to deploy arms in their demonstrations. Free speech does not protect that kind of physical threat, especially a threat
used to stifle the speech of others. The ACLU made a wise call without undermining
their most solid traditional commitments
to Constitutional liberty. And I completely concur.
Meanwhile I’ll continue to resist attempts by the government to pick
and choose speech that it approves of. History has taught me that my ox is more likely to be gored by that
than the other guy’s. But don’t be shocked if I someday punch a Nazi.
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