Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but you appear to be saying people who oppose nazis are just as bad as nazis.

Please say I've misconstrued

People who form mobs and destroy things while hooting like howler monkeys are awful, yes.

I agree that the mentioned statues are flashpoints and need to be removed. But destroyed?

Lest we forget and all that. Those that do not learn from the lessons of history, yada yada yada

Punching nazis is fine. They want to eradicate everyone from the earth apart from healthy white people. They deserve violence. Engaging with them has never worked.

I believe violence against fascism helped defeat it in the 40s btw.

Coming from you, this is surprising.

People are angry, and rightly so. Engaging and trying to talk to fascists has never worked. Neither has laughing at them or ignoring them. History shows this.

Punching nazis is fine. They want to eradicate everyone from the earth apart from healthy white people. They deserve violence. Engaging with them has never worked.

I believe violence against fascism helped defeat it in the 40s btw.

I am tolerant of everything except intolerance!

Having the mayor or town authorities decide to remove the statues is fine. After all, they were originally put up with the consent of their predecessors so this is just the democratic and peaceful process in operation, supported by the force of law. A mob tearing one down in an already tense situation is deliberately provocative and not going to achieve much more than more violence

So would you have been one of those white moderates who espoused inaction during the Civil Rights movement in America who MLK particularly despised?

Violence is the catalyst for any social change. Sitting around talking about it does nothing. Again, just look at history. Do you think the suffragettes got the vote by sitting around knitting and organising peaceful protests? No, they smashed shit up.

Violence is the catalyst for any social change. Sitting around talking about it does nothing. Again.

I'm not a fighter. But I admire those that stand up against injustice and hate.

Anyway, sorry if I've offended any liberal sensibilities here. I didn't expect much agreement.

I'm not a fighter. But I admire those that stand up against injustice and hate.

Anyway, sorry if I've offended any liberal sensibilities here. I didn't expect much agreement.

It's made me stop wearing my cream M&S chinos, for sure. Dam Nazis, spoiling everything.

It's a case of choosing one's battles. On this, I think the minority white-chino-and-red-hat-clad pathetic right wing scum should be shown up for what they are. I'm not sure they can change, but we can work to ensure that others don't fall for their bullshit or shrug their shoulders and equivocate.

C'mon, you're just trolling now, surely

Please forgive me for not mincing my words when a leftist protestor gets killed by a nazi driving over them in a car when the discussion seems to be more about whether a racist statue should have been destroyed or not…

Next time you choose the music in my presence I'm going to crush your spine.

Well, that's a win at least

Dude, there are neo-nazis in the White House. Steve Bannon is Trump's main advisor and has featured in Stormfront for crying out loud. Nazis in America are becoming more emboldened by the day.

Like I said, laughing at them or ignoring them will do nothing. That's literally what happened in Germany in the 30s. And you can invoke Godwin's Law if you like, but he's ok with it. https://twitter.com/sfmnemonic/status/8 ... 9634232320

By all means, compare these shitheads to Nazis. Again and again. I'm with you.

— Mike Godwin (@sfmnemonic) August 14, 2017

Please forgive me for not mincing my words when a leftist protestor gets killed by a nazi driving over them in a car when the discussion seems to be more about whether a racist statue should have been destroyed or not…

Anyway it would be boring if we all thought the same wouldn't it? I'll leave you to your liberal/centrist echo chamber now.

I still love you all despite you enabling nazis

(Yes, this post was trolling - I couldn't resist just one)

Oh you scamp.

So... you're not liberal now? How do you identify?

Like it or not, appearances are important. Trump got elected by people who look at the news and when they see statues being pulled down they don't see justified anger, they see violence. They say things like "it's awful, the violence on both sides" because that's what the media reporting teaches them. Protest and action only drive change when they aren't doing exactly what the likes of Bannon and Gorka want - reinforcing the sense of separation between the American heartland republican voters and those who actually can see shades of grey.

This isn't the 70s. Those in charge now aren't LBJ, going to be driven to withdraw from war because of public protest. They're emboldened by it because it's giving them exactly what they want - a way to tell hall of America "This is your enemy".

I think pulling down that statue is akin to the bravery shown by those people who fought and died against the Nazis in a total war for the very survival of their families. That statue could easily have landed on one of their toes.

I think pulling down that statue is akin to the bravery shown by those people who fought and died against the Nazis in a total war for the very survival of their families. That statue could easily have landed on one of their toes.

Funny joke. But a lot of those people protesting against nazis are worried for the survival of their families because of the colour of their skin, so I think it's fair enough, don't you?

Funny joke. But a lot of those people protesting against nazis are worried for the survival of their families because of the colour of their skin, so I think it's fair enough, don't you?

You're conflating two different things in this thread. Is the pulling down of the statue understandable? Of course, absolutely! Is it the correct course of action to achieve their goals? Very different question.

Mob mentality scares the shit out of me. The people who tore down that statue were every bit as (deep breath) "swivel eyed" as the racist fucktards the other day.

FFS, imagine if the grown ups behaved like this over everything.

Something can be reprehensible but still understandable.

You've literally threatened physical violence against another member of this forum, right on this board.

I do not think wanting to punch people because of their political beliefs is a great jumping off point for the world. I don't think destroying civic property is, either. I would prefer the state stops both.

I think there is a false equivalence with ththe statues,sufferagettes and the civil rights issues of the 1960s. These latter two were protests against unjust laws (which everyone has a moral right to disobey), the statue stuff is anger about history which has moved on massively, and people are prepared to discuss it and take proper action. Tbete is a lack of nuance in the aguments.