Editorial

Stop thinking there is some middle ground with hate groups

So much discussion over the past few days in the wake of the chaos and violence in Charlottesville has centered around free speech issues.

These Nazis have the right to speak, but they also have the right to get shouted down or ignored by reasonable human beings.

There seems to be a misunderstanding over what the “Unite the right” march was all about.

Unite the right was a planned demonstration designed to espouse hate-speech and racist ideologies. The misnomer, most likely intentional, of calling it a right-wing rally gives off the false impression that there could be some back-and-forth discussion and a debate of reasoned arguments.

This isn’t a left vs. right issue. This isn’t a conservative vs. liberal issue.

This isn’t a north vs. south issue. This is a moral issue, and these hate groups are on the wrong side.

Our polarization in political realms has given us this false sense that because someone is against the folks that I see as the other side, then I should listen to what they have to say, since we have a common enemy.

These are hate groups organizing to attempt to give legitimacy to their white nationalist platform. Plain and simple.

There is not room for discussion and nuances. The rally was organized in part and heavily promoted by hate-mongers at Daily Stormer. The currently serverless and not functioning website specifically called for violence and referred to people of color as every derogatory term imaginable. Hate speech in posts designed look and read like a news website gave a platform for the most repugnant humans in our country.

Every time someone tries to blame the “left” for the violence in Virginia, they ignore the fact that these racist groups organized with the intent to do harm. Marching with riot gear and weapons isn’t just because they wanted to look like a low-budget police force.

They were rallying to support an icon of a failed uprising and an attempt to retain the right to own human beings.

Pretending that there are some valid points to be made from their side is dangerous and allows them to claim that they deserve a seat at the table in discussions of how our country should run.

White nationalists claim that they have valid points to make in reasonable discussions about race. They don’t.

They don’t want to have any compromise and those of us who stand against hatred and bigotry shouldn’t ask for any compromise either.

“Every time someone tries to blame the “left” for the violence in Virginia, they ignore the fact that these racist groups organized with the intent to do harm. Marching with riot gear and weapons isn’t just because they wanted to look like a low-budget police force.”