Two wrongs don’t make a right!

Before I get into the point I want to make with this column I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not support the idea of white supremacy.
The Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and their ilk are evil organizations and should be condemned by society. These organizations have developed a hate for any ethnic group that does not agree with their vision of human society.
You all should be aware that just recently there has been a terrible confrontation and violence between white supremacists and counter protesters (mostly leftists) who are opposed to these organizations.
The supremacists had authority from either the authorities in Charlottesville and or the State of Virginia to conduct a rally.
What they were opposing was the cities intention to dismantle a statue of Robert E. Lee.
This rally was well organized and involved people from every one of the ultra right wing hate groups.
One individual deliberately drove his car into people that were opposing the rally, killed one woman and injured 19 other people.
President Trump initially caused a national uproar by not specifically denouncing the actions of the supremacists. What he did was criticize the actions of everyone involved in the violence. Of course, that was not good enough for the media and the left.
No one seemed to have a problem with the supremacists being attacked by those opposing them even though they were conducting an authorized rally.
Two days later, under considerable pressure, Trump then specifically called out those who conducted the rally as racists, bigots, criminals and thugs and said they would be held accountable for their actions.
The next day he returned to his original position and denounced both sides for the violent confrontation.
Donald Trump does have a way of infuriating people with his unorthodox way of communicating his position on issues. There is no doubt that he is his own worst enemy.
While I don’t agree with much of what he says or does, I do agree with his position on who was responsible for the violent confrontation. The counter protesters came equipped with clubs, baseball bats, etc. to challenge the rally, so there is hate on both sides.
Neither the media nor anyone else has acknowledged that fact. Had the counter protesters ignored that rally and stayed home, or if the police had made sure that the two sides could not come face to face, there would not have been a riot.
What really bothers me is that the media and the left seem to think it is okay to incite violence without being held accountable because they think they are on the right side of an issue, but not the other way around.
In both Canada and the USA, we are supposed to have freedom of speech and the right to express our opinion. Somehow what seems to be gradually happening, especially in universities, is that you can only express your views or protest if you are politically correct or agree with the liberal left.
The white supremacists and neo-Nazis are extremists and really have no place in modern day society, but in a democratic society everyone should have the right to be heard.
Most people are reasonable and extremist views will be rejected.
I think suppressing the views of extremists would be counter productive. These views need to be transparent so that they can be challenged in open dialog rather than the way they were challenged in Charlottesville.
This episode was a good example where two wrongs did not make a right.
These counter protesters should have stayed home and made their views known with other peaceful means of communication, then no one would have been killed or injured.

by Herman Schwenk

 

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