Rights of protesters, yea or nay?

[hellofromreddit]

Personally, I'd agree that Sanders' treatment of police violence and black issues in general was lacking before the infamous event where BLM protesters took the stage from him in Seattle. He responded by profoundly improving several parts of his platform. Several people on his staff now come from the BLM movement.

I think respecting protests, even when they're inconvenient and combative, and incorporating their message is a vital part of democracy. Just shutting them out and shouting them down is weakness.

[Trust Buster]

1. I think if you were to rent a facility for a gathering, invited guests just to have some rude

individuals crash your party and infringe on your right to assemble, then you wouldn't be trumpeting the rights of the fools that interrupted your event. Rude is rude, infringing on the rights of others is selfish and myopic.

[John Poet]

2. Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly

how the segregationists felt about it.

[Luminous Animal]

8. So rude.

[hellofromreddit]

10. Your analogy is poor. A campaign for a public office does not equal a private event.

You need to account for the differences in your explanation.

[hellofromreddit]

13. They appear to be quite too busy correcting the record.

Conveniently, no Clinton supporters will address the SAC video on Twitter which clearly shows the only person getting physical was a Latino Clinton supporter and not the supposed Latino Bernie Bros.

[nolawarlock]

5. I think there is a difference ...

... between the rights of protesters and the advisable behavior of protesters. Just because there might be a first amendment right to hurl obscenities at poor, innocent children, doesn't mean that it's advisable to do so or that we should support a candidate who so blatantly supports such behavior against our youngest citizens.

[Corporate666]

6. They aren't trying to protest

They are trying to intimidate, cajole, insult, scare and belittle those that don't agree with them.

If they were applying for a permit, marching in the street and trying to raise awareness of their issues, that would be a protest.

Trying to make other people afraid or to stop other people from saying something because you don't like it isn't a protest. It's bullying.

If they are not afraid of Hillary or Trump, then there is no reason to use such tactics. These tactics are born out of fear and anger and a dictatorial mindset that you have to destroy those with differing opinions.

If you disagree, take a step back and imagine how you would feel if Trump egged on his supporters to overwhelm and disrupt any Sanders event such that Sanders felt unsafe and had to cancel and leave the venue and his supporters had to leave and go home in fear after being insulted and intimidated by mobs of angry people shouting and insulting them. Are you in favor of that?

Because if not, then being in favor of it when it's against someone else is abhorrent.

It's just like the "Then they came for me" poem by Niemoller. Wrong is wrong, and it's not OK just because the victim is someone other than yourself.

[hellofromreddit]

11. How can you tell?

I can easily accuse any protest of trying to intimidate. In fact, that's generally the go-to excuse of folks who don't want to deal with a protest. A bunch of hippies camping in a public area "intimidated" people so police cleared them out.

A protest does't become a violent act of suppression simply because it lacks a permit or takes place somewhere inconvenient. Besides, I gave a recent example of a protest action that literally shut someone down and also had a positive impact, so the two things are not mutually exclusive.

[procon]

7. No, we should not respect anyone who engages in "combative" protests.

Thugs who start throwing punches or go around shoving people and threatening them are dangerous. Whatever message they might have had gets lost in their bad behavior and they have no place in civil societies. Civil disobedience is one thing, but where did you ever learn that violence "is a vital part democracy"?

[hellofromreddit]

12. "throwing punches or go around shoving people and threatening" is not protest. That's just violence.

Not what I was talking about.

[Mnpaul]

9. Some forget about our history

Anyone remember the real tea party?

[baldguy]

14. Yea, up until they start attacking & assaulting people.

The fact that this is even being discussed & the actions of these hooligans is being defended is appalling.

[hellofromreddit]

15. Sorry, I thought everyone here understood the difference between political protest and assault.

[pdsimdars]

16. Protesting is what America was built on. Period.