Monday, March 5, 2018

Henry Haas- Riot turns to violence

A white nationalist speaker reserved a venue today and was scheduled to speak to a crowd at Michigan State University. Police arrived hours before the event started, and soon protesters started to trickle in, chanting “Nazis go home!” . Soon after a white nationalist group marched down the street and they met, an argument beginning almost immediately. The words soon turned to fists however, as the two groups began to hurt eachother, forcing police intervention. Over 145 tickets were issued.

I believe this is an issue not of who is right or wrong but of free speech. Personally I don’t agree with many of the things the nationalist group stands for, however I think it’s important for our country that those people still have the right to speak. I also believe this to be true for the protestors. They had the right to protest that speech today. It’s when people start blocking eachother and fists begin to be thrown that I believe the problem starts. This relates almost directly to when I believe this started in the modern day, with many of Trump’s speeches being comepletely blocked off by leftists, or far right neo nazis blocking the way to democratic discussion. It’s not about opinion in those situations, at least I don’t see it that way. It’s an issue of whether or not that person has the right to speak, and in this case, I believe he did.

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