It's a strange situation.
On one hand, you do run the risk of bolstering these guys if you make incidents involving them too public or more public than any other comparable non-hate crime incident. They crave attention. They want people to be afraid. In that respect they are terrorists in that they try to terrorize. If you get too many people excited and against them, it could just play into their plans for recruiting, etc.
On the other hand, by not coming out and saying 'this is wrong and taking a hard line stance against it, you risk allowing it to continue and grow. By not informing others, and getting in the AG's face, it allows them to think what they are doing is ok. Situations like this do seem to be on the increase in the last 2 years. The Aryan Guard HAS been trying to make Calgary a major center for it's operations and wrote about making Calagry their home in previous websites, blogs, and pamphlets. And there have been more incidents. There was one involving a gay gentleman about a year ago that PoM forgot to include.
In the past, the CPS, in the fairness of free speech, has protected these guys during their rallies, including wisking them away on busses when things got too heated. Incidents like this only encourage rumours (rumours I don't believe, as I mentioned, it was more about giving everyone a right to free speech, and preventing injuries on both sides) that the CPS has Aryan sympathizers.
Perhaps this March 21st, it might be time to allow people like this to be treated with the respect they themselves are advocating. The police need to be more concerned with harm coming to the citizens than this specifc march. There is a difference between free speech and hate speech. You have the right to say whatever you want yes. But you are not free to encourage violence. There are a smattering of laws that things like this could fall under. And while I realize that yes, it's very hard to prove and prosecute, it also cannot be encouraged even under the guise of free speech.
P.S. If the city can come down so hard on the annual pot rally/march, (ok, they didn't come down hard, but they had crazy security, including wasting all our tax dollars on having Hawks patrol the event) you'd think they could figure out this situation too. This may be more of a city hall problem, than a CPS problem.
P.P.S. PoM, you may wanna change the thread title. It should accurately describe the thread. Then if we do wish to discuss it more, we can find it easy enough.
|