WhatFinger

Appeasing fascists always turns out well.

Berkeley, CA Mayor: UC Berkeley should cancel conservative 'free speech week' to avoid/appease Antifa rioters

By Robert Laurie ——--August 31, 2017

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I'm no fan of Milo Yiannopoulos. Regardless of his politics, I think he's a crude, insufferable, provocateur who's more interested in the shock value of his persona than his supposed conservative principles. All of that is fine. If he wants that to be his brand, and he's not getting violent, he's perfectly within his rights to be "that guy." I may not be into it but we have a little thing called the 1st Amendment, and it guarantees his right to say whatever he wants. It also protects the rights of free assembly for those who wish to listen to him.
...Unless, of course, he tries to bring his schtick to Berkeley California. There, apparently, the mayor has decided the 1st Amendment should be constrained by mob mentality. What was once the alleged home of free speech is now a bastion of fascism and blame-the-victim politicking. Meet Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin. He's urging UC Berkeley to cancel the upcoming conservative-backed "free speech week" in an effort to - and we're not making this up - appease the violent Antifa fascists that have been rioting across the country.
In the aftermath of a right-wing rally Sunday that ended with anarchists chasing attendees from a downtown park, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin urged UC Berkeley on Monday to cancel conservatives’ plans for a Free Speech Week next month to avoid making the city the center of more violent unrest. “I don’t want Berkeley being used as a punching bag,” said Arreguin, whose city has been the site of several showdowns this year between, on the one hand, the left and its fringe anarchist wing, and on the other, supporters of President Trump who at times have included white nationalists.
“I am concerned about these groups using large protests to create mayhem,” Arreguin said. “It’s something we have seen in Oakland and in Berkeley.” The mayor wants UC Berkeley to halt plans by a conservative campus group, the Berkeley Patriot, to host right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos during its scheduled Free Speech Week from Sept. 24-27. Berkeley’s right-vs.-left cage matches began with an appearance that Yiannopoulos was to have made in February at a campus hall, an event that was aborted when black-clad anarchists like those who broke up Sunday’s downtown rally stormed into Sproul Plaza, smashed windows and set bonfires.
It seems the squeaky wheel gets the grease, even if the "wheel" is a horde of violent marauders that like to burn campuses and smash limousines. When asked why everyone should kow-tow to a gang of thugs in black masks, Arreguin offered a response that was full-on "blame the victim."
“I’m very concerned about Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter and some of these other right-wing speakers coming to the Berkeley campus, because it’s just a target for black bloc to come out and commit mayhem on the Berkeley campus and have that potentially spill out on the street,” Arreguin said, referring to militants who have also been called anti-fascists or antifa."

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In other words, "those conservatives should expect to get raped if they come to town dressed all pretty." They're being silenced for their own good - and the good of anyone who might be caught up in the attack. That's not only a direct repudiation of everything our Constitution stands for, it's also an admission that he's refusing to order police to do their jobs, and it's an Orwellian twist on what it means to be the victim of a crime. It's the modern left's anti-speech trifecta - the ultimate heckler's veto. Democrats love to compare everything and everyone to Hitler. So, tell us Mr. Arreguin, how did appeasing fascists work out back in the 30's?
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Robert Laurie——

Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com

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