[wittynickname]

Pulled this from the other thread and put it here because it's more fitting in this thread.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

In 1965, a clear majority of Americans supported the Civil Right Act of 1964 (58 per cent for, 31 per cent against).

People will say lots of things about what they support in theory, but when it's in their own back yard, all of a sudden they're pissed off. Look at politicians that favor fracking but don't want it on their property.

After the 90s featured an emerging acceptance of the gay and lesbian community, after women started taking over more a share in the job market and as college attendees and graduates, etc, you're now seeing backlash against those groups. Suddenly you have more and more laws limiting women's rights, you have companies complaining about paying for birth control, about being forced to not discriminate against gay people/couples, etc.

Backlash always happens when people see their privilege slipping away. Equality looks like oppression when you're used to privilege, and that's happening now, and it happened then.

Originally Posted by Itse

First of all, this completely ignores the part where Nazism is a fundamentally violent ideology that preaches racial supremacy and supports completely removing undesirable elements from the society and especially from positions of power.

Itse's entire post here was phenomenal and I just want to point out a couple of things from it.

This is a huge thing for me when people are up in arms about the Nazi-punching thing. Nazi ideology literally says certain groups of people don't deserve to be alive. It advocates for the extermination of certain races/religions.

We live in a country that absolutely worships the Second Amendment and the "right" to protect oneself and one's property. I'd say punching a Nazi, who advocates for violence against someone, is perfectly in line with the 2A. And if punching a Nazi is a problem, we really need to re-evaluate how we approach gun ownership and self-defense, especially in states with Stand Your Ground laws, where you can basically shoot first and ask questions later if you feel in any way threatened.

There's also the problem that as we have seen many times, the far right is in no way interested in debate. What you're suggesting is the ultimate liberal fantasy of how things should be done. If you listen to the current reactionary conservative movement, this is exactly the kind of "nonsense" they hate.

As a rule of thumb, if you look at debates organized between liberals and conservatives, it's almost always the liberals who ask the conservatives to come around and be heard, and very rarely the other way around.

People like Milo Yannopoulos especially are not interested in debate. They are only interested in free speech to the extent that they get a platform to rant from. They are in no way interested in providing the other side a chance to respond.

I've been harping on this for months, being surrounded by conservative right wing types--they are in no way interested in debate or facts or science or reality. They're interested in free speech only as long as it's speech that they agree with, otherwise they want people to sit down and shut up (see Tomi Lahren ranting at Kaepernick for his anthem protesting).

It would be lovely if Republicans and Democrats would sit down at the same table and discuss things, but when one side only wants to talk and then stick their fingers in their ears, the "discussion" isn't going to go anywhere. The conservative/right wing part of the US right now is not open to discussion, not open to reason, not open to compromise of any kind.

I also support silencing ISIS recruiters. I don't really see much of a difference between Nazis and them.

Exactly, 100% this. Believing Nazi ideology and promoting it is not the same as a conflicting political belief. I can tolerate if you want to discuss how taxes should be collected and spent, that's a difference of belief and people are welcome to share it. If your "political belief" advocates for the extermination of another group of people, I no longer care much for your freedom to advocate it.

Nazis are extremists the way Al Qaeda are extremists or ISIS are extremists. This is not differing political opinion that deserves a voice at the table, period.

I do think there is a chance that the current reactionary wave is pretty much the last desperate show of force by a dying breed, and it will really just blow over as long as people just peacefully stand up to it and refuse to give in.

I think that there is a lot to this. Ideology tends to have a slow trend toward progression. Slowly women gain power, minorities gain power, the weak take their place at the table. It's a slow process, and there are setbacks, but eventually people move forward, sometimes with a lot of kicking and screaming along the way. There was a lot of kicking and screaming as labor unions took hold, but eventually, workers got rights and protections. There was a lot of kicking and screaming against suffrage but eventually women got the right to vote. There was a lot of kicking and screaming as the US worked toward desegregation, and there still is, but the slow trend is towards, not away from, equality.