So, I listened to Biden's speech on the protests, and I thought it was good. Like always, Biden strikes the right balance on these issues. It's a delicate balance to get right. If you're too stringent you run the risk of violating peoples' first amendment rights. If you're too lenient, you run the risk of people doing whatever they want.
Yet the left is acting like someone just shot their dog over this (no, that was Kristi Noem). Vaush today called Biden's actions fascistic and repeated the line I told you leftists believe about liberals where if you scratch a liberal, a fascist bleeds. Of course, that guy is obsessed with fascism, but I'm not seeing better takes throughout most of the online left. Everyone seems united in the defense of the "free palestine" people being able to do whatever they want, with no consequences, and the end justifies the means. Well, okay, the establishment left and even the right seem to be ripping the left over this, but that's the thing, in the circles I normally run with, most of them seem to be treating me like a pariah for daring to think that protesters should follow basic rules.
Look, guys, this is kindergarten stuff. I'm not saying all rules taught to us when we're young are good. I would agree with the left that a lot of it is a hidden curriculum to domesticate people and turn them into obedient workers to their employers, but at the same time, a lot of rules exist for good reason. Like one person talks at a time. You don't scream over other people. You don't just occupy property for an infinite amount of time. Etc. Many of these rules exist for good reason, and there are legitimate problems that arise when they are not followed. And that is what this is about. The left thinks that our lives should be rightly put on hold over this free palestine crap, because they have a point to make and Biden is kinda operating in the framework of you have free speech, but you can't just obstruct people and cause chaos because you have a point to make. And that's where I'm at with this.
If we follow the logic of the protesters directly, they'll say that it's fine to just hold everything up, because they have a point to make. And when you're dealing with a larger legal framework, that logic breaks down. Because anyone can claim to be protesting at any time, and just shut down everything, and hold the system hostage. And if you believe the left on the whole "we also need food and water" thing they expect us to take care of their needs while they do all of this (admittedly in my ideal world they'd still collect UBI but i digress).
I mean, at some point, it gets ridiculous, and you have to just tell these people "no." And that's where I'm at, and that's where Biden's at, and that's where most sane people are at. But in leftie world, the cops breaking them up and hauling them off to jail is bad, the Biden administration is bad for not capitulating to their demands, and everything that doesn't cater to them is bad. They have a right to believe that, don't get me wrong. BUT....when your behavior turns into ACTION, and such action impacts people in the real world, then yeah, you're not necessarily protected under the first amendment any more.
And going back to the idea that by this logic, legally, ANY protester can protest over ANY cause in this way. Should nazis be allowed to do this to reintroduce segregation or something? Obviously no. And any leftist will say this. Not because of the legal argument, but because they hate nazis. See, the left doesnt care about legal principles that apply to all, they just care about THEIR causes. It's all the end justifies the means.
My concept of legal rights and limitations on those rights applies to everyone. I rightly see that if we give boon to these protesters, we also gotta do it for the nazis. And the pro lifers. And the flat earthers. And the weirdo anti vax people. Like, that's the thing, in america, free speech applies to all groups equally. The rules apply to everyone. You cant just give favor to one group because you agree with them and not to others because you don't. That's ILLIBERAL. But leftists who are that far left and that are gone, essentially ARE illiberal. They want special rules for their own causes while mercilessly crushing everyone else. And then they whine and moan about others they don't like having free speech rights they themselves want, while also complaining about limitations put on them.
Again, under liberal democracy and a system of constitutional rights, the rules have to apply to everyone. People might disagree with you and have different causes. The law doesn't care. The law cares about setting up a set of rules that maximizes your freedom and your rights while also maintaining the basic ordering of society. All sides of the argument are considered, and sometimes freedom must be curtailed due to basic functional realities of living in the same 3 dimensional space with others.
So if you show up to protests to scream over the speaker, or you occupy private property, and you act in straight up uncivil and illiberal ways, don't be surprised when the law cracks down on you. Imagine if this were nazis doing this because they wanted some white ethno state somewhere and wanted to secede from the larger US because it got too "woke" or something. Again, if you can understand why we would crack down on such people, you should also understand why, when the same circumstances present themselves, that we should crack down on you.
This is also why I occasionally defend literal nazis and their right to free speech. i fully recognize if we suspended their speech, we'd be setting a precedent to crack down on everyone else's. At the same time, when they go too far, and we do have to shut them down, we also have to shut down other protests for other causes under similar circumstances. Just because you have a cause that you see as worthy doesn't matter. It's not the content of your ideas that matters insofar as these rules go. it's the behavior and the circumstances. In America, everyone has the right to believe and say what they want. But when your behavior starts to negatively impact others, then that's where the line is drawn. You have a right to swing your fist until you hit someone else's nose. The problem with the free palestine people is they're swinging for peoples' noses so to speak and crying foul when they're getting arrested for it.
So again, we all have our rights. But we all have the same limitations on said rights. Follow the rules. The rules aren't there with fascistic intent. The rules are there to preserve the basic functioning of society. They're just rules, follow them.
And if you wanna complain about someone being fascistic, let me present to you the moron who will win if you don't vote for Biden. Just throwing that out there. That's what a real fascist looks like. That's the kind of guy we should be afraid of. Not Biden. Biden got it right.
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