A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

7 August 2018 — 1625 mdt

Notes on free speech and on police and protesters

Free speech. Yesterday, Apple, Facebook, and YouTube, kicked Alex Jone off their social media platforms. Jones, a not-that-well-educated conspiracy enthusiast who is not always constrained by fact, still has his Infowars website for disseminating his ideas, which conservative attorney David French, writing at the New York Times, finds loathsome.

As French observes, Apple, et al, were within their rights to deny their platforms to Jones. Whether they were wise is another question. Driving people like Jones underground instead of keeping them in the sunlight, where their lies and calumnies can be exposed and refuted, may not be to society’s ultimate benefit.

There’s also the question of whether First Amendment rights should apply to giant private organizations whose size and power approach the size and power of government. If these enterprises have government contracts, that may be a complicating factor. Opponents of “hate speech” are celebrating Jones’ comeuppance. I also despise hateful speech, but I think one best deals with it by refuting it in the marketplace of ideas, not by suppressing it. Suppression is a confession that the suppressed speech is more powerful that the rebuttal to it.

Police and protesters

During the past week, there were clashes between right wing and Antifa (anti-fascist) demonstrators in Portland, OR, and Berkeley, CA. In Portland, the police charged the Antifas after they refused to disperse. A reporter for the Oregonian was injured by an object hurled by an Antifa thug.

Sunday, Antifa thugs in Berkeley reportedly broke a plate glass window at a U.S. Marines recruiting station, and committed other acts that were not expressions of brotherly love. Here’s an excerpt from the San Jose Mercury’s report of the festivities:

Protesters threw homemade fireworks at officers in the area of Milvia and Center streets, prompting police to deploy a smoke canister, White said. As of Sunday afternoon, police reported protesters also had vandalized more than 20 cars, all of which were Berkeley city vehicles — smashing their windows and setting one on fire — and burned three dumpsters.

The city, under the authority of an emergency ordinance passed earlier this week, prohibited protestors from bringing weapons, signs mounted on sticks or other potentially dangerous items into the area around the park. Masks also were prohibited. Even so, police confiscated dozens of items Sunday, including homemade fireworks; a sledgehammer with a rusty, metal head; wooden poles wrapped with black cloth; black helmets; shields; and pepper spray or mace. Some protesters tried to smuggle in rocks by taping them to the back of their signs, White said.

Police apprehended a truck full of weapons that was trying to access the protest area around 10 a.m. Officers arrested the occupants and confiscated about 30 banned items from the vehicle, White said.

At least 20 people were arrested. The Berkeley police published their names and mug shots. Now, reports the Guardian, the Antifa thugs are claiming the publicity puts their safety and property at risk.

Count me unsympathetic. I’m all for peaceful counter-demonstrations. But a sizable number of Antifa thugs come to the party armed and ready to rumble. They dress in black, covering their faces in black masks (the KKK prefers white), and threaten observers who try to photograph them. They’re the functional equivalent of the nightriders who terrorized blacks in the south. They may not be working for Donald Trump, but their behavior is a huge gift to him. If they’re arrested for committing assault and criminal mischief, good. If their names and faces are exposed, good. If they’re convicted of their alleged crimes, and sent to the slammer, even better. They call themselves Antifa, and consider themselves heroes, but they’re common criminals masquerading as political revolutionaries. In other words, they’re simply revolting.