Death threats are never cool, swastikas are never cool.
Calling a Jew a fan of Nazism is… problematic, is the point I was trying to make.
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It seems he might be roughly the opposite of a NAZI, but either way I’m enough of a First Amendment absolutist to say “let him speak.”
Not just for the FA of it, either. Too many people have been in denial for the past several decades about fascism both here and in other countries, and still don’t seem to grasp that it is not some ancient and irrelevant history like feudalism (which is also, like chicken pox, just waiting for a chance to reactivate.)
Having an annoying neighbor hanging swastikas as their holiday display may not be pleasant, but he may also be a bit of a wake up call (and, yeah, they’re annoying too.)
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But how far are you willing to let that absolutism go? Burning crosses? Screaming death threats at neighbors?
I get that people have been in denial, but these people have been operating vocally and vociferously right under our noses and whenever the left call them out we get told “Oh you think everyone’s a nazi.” I don’t think people being this obvious would help the people in denial. I think the people in denial would just say things like “Gosh, you don’t understand satire” or something.
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Indeed. But “may or may not have a mental illness” covers 100% of the population. We all either have a mental illness or we don’t.
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Yeah, bright lines are hard to come by in the real world. I did qualify “something of a First Amendment absolutist” and threats (explicit or implicit; a burning cross on the front yard is not just trespass) cross the line. I’m not sure I’d land right where current FA jurisprudence has, but not so far that I’d make a big deal of the difference.
So I’m OK with NAZIs marching on parade in Skokie, and OK with them hanging their flag from their own flagpole – but not remotely OK with them painting swastikas on synagogues, others’ cars, etc.
Which, again, is not too far from current US law. And I can live with that. To anticipate the question, no, I’m not Jewish. On the other hand, in a slightly different world my children might have been.
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I give a pass to Navajo rugs and other traditional and pre 1940s uses, at least. To be used in contemporary political speech as a way of linking current racist/fascist groups to past racist/fascist groups requires skill that very few people have.
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You can be both. STEPHEN MILLER.
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