Google Translate says that means “back whistling face”
Yet another reason to love the German language!
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Liberalism 101: let nazis have parades, 'cause the law gives them “equal protection”.
Very interesting discussion.
I have no idea what rights Buzz had in this situation.
But, Buzz Aldrin is there with a camera crew perhaps on a speaking engagement, so why should this Sibrel guy have the right to taunt, disprage, and attempt to interfere with Aldrin’s work?
Being falsely accused of something is extremely frustrating and hurtful, and Sibrel looks like he is taking it to an extreme level both publicly and relentlessly. Is a punch really worse than Sibrel’s taunting?
Sure, “violence” is a problem. But what are we calling “violence”? For me the violence I am worried about is what seems like regular mass murders with military style weapons at our public schools, movie theaters, workplaces and what not.
Can you really label a punch like that as violent? I just don’t think it’s in the same category. And I don’t see how Aldrin’s punch has any connection to condoning violence. I think if Aldrin wanted to seriously injure they guy, he could have. Maybe we should be congratulating him for restraint?
I don’t think I have a particular point here, just a lot of questions after reading the comments. If I had to take a stand, I’d say Aldrin did the right thing. This guy was not going to stop, and Aldrin asked people around him many times to get him out of there. So he took his defense into his own hands.
It was sort of okay then, it would not be today.
Speak for yourself, I’m perfectly okay with it today. When I look at this specific situation where a large asshole is badgering the shit out of a smaller, elderly man, getting in his face and blocking him physically (repeatedly) – he got exactly what he deserved.
That may not be politically correct, but it in this circumstance, in my opinion, it was morally and ethically correct and I would do nothing more than offer Buzz (or anyone else in that similar situation) a pat on his back for a nice right hook.
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Agreed, especially considering Buzz risked his life to travel to the Moon in the first place and lost some friends in the space program as well. If anything, I think Buzz was quite restrained with this guy. Buzz was a gentleman before he punched that idiot in the face and is a gentleman after the fact as well.
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As a practicing Buddhist, I had to think about this one a bit: many of us take a vow never to harm another living being. But if you look at what Aldrin did, it was actually pretty mild behavior. He didn’t get angry, he didn’t go berserk. He just gave the guy a richly deserved reality check in the face. I think it’s pretty bizarre to suggest that his behavior was improper. Even from the ahimsa perspective, this is obviously allowed: a punch in the nose isn’t going to cause harm, although it may cause pain. Sometimes pain is our best teacher, and this guy was definitely in need of a lesson.
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I’m not a Buddhist, so I’ll just let the Dalai Lama field this question on how to deal with persistent bloodsuckers:
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Colloquially, it means “a face desperately in need of a fist”. Given my interactions with him in his younger days, I’m only surprised Sibrel didn’t get punched out before he got to Aldrin.
Freedom of speech includes the right to be an asshole. (Note the XKCD strip where it’s explained that nobody has to stick around and listen.) If we stop the Neo-nazis from having a parade, they can stop us from having our parades. Fair’s fair.
However, when someone starts a physical confrontation, as Sibrel did, freedom of speech no longer applies. As every mother in the world has said, “you don’t get to cry if someone hits you back”.
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I’m happily applying a double-standard here. That’s pretty much all there is to say. 
Wow. So this guy’s mentally ill? He just seems like an asshole to me. And if he is mentally ill, he needs his medication bumped. Being mentally ill doesn’t mean you get to harass people, call them names, poke them and get in their face without any response. Buzz Aldrin is of a generation and experience where calling him a coward is significant. While I would likely laugh off someone calling me a coward, I didn’t face death countless times in battle and going to the moon, so there’s that.
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Except that you are ignoring the actual ideological content of the parade and the consequences of it. There is no fairness in your comparison, because “speech” is not an isolated thing: people get killed everyday, motivated not only by hate speech from conservative pundits, but by things like neo-liberalism, austerity and other ideologies of the ruling class.
The best answer to free speech is more free speech. The Nazi parades are controversial, but act as a buffer zone; the fights about their right to speech appear there, and not a couple steps forward in our own turf. I consider the best reaction here to let them march but point and laugh.
Censorship, once started, is difficult to stop. The self-censorship kind, which then results, is the most oppressive.
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It’s what right-wingers do all day long to everyone else: shrink back into their dark corner while calling everybody else cowards, traitors and liars. I’d like to punch every single one of them in the jaw.
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How is someone protesting in a place where I can just avoid the same as someone getting into my face and hitting me with a hard object? You’re really, really, really reaching here.
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I’m surprised that was all Buzz did.
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Thank God I’m from Canada. We’re civilized.
In Canada, ol’ Buzz would be facing charges. We’re civilized here. Nothing gives a person the right to “haul off and slug” someone, no matter how provoked. I’m learning about the American psyche by reading these comments. The U.S. began as a violent country against the aboriginals, continued with their violent revolution and to this day export violence around the world. …and this from a God-fearing nation.
Or just happily carry on with your life, showing the world how isolated these people actually are. These guys feed on any reaction.
“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” - George Bernard Shaw
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