If such a thing existed, “The Neo-Nazi’s Guide to Getting Attention” might go something like this: ADVERTISING If such a thing existed, “The Neo-Nazi’s Guide to Getting Attention” might go something like this: Step 1. Plan a “peaceful” rally weeks
If such a thing existed, “The Neo-Nazi’s Guide to Getting Attention” might go something like this:
Step 1. Plan a “peaceful” rally weeks in advance with the assurance word will get out on social media.
Step 2. Show up and wait 5 seconds until the counter-protesters attack.
Step. 3. Bask in the national — scratch that, international — news coverage that gives your repugnant racist doctrine the spotlight it does not deserve.
There might be a Step 4 — “Repeat” — because this is starting to seem familiar. In the latest episode, a melee erupted June 26 at a demonstration in Sacramento, Calif., by two white nationalist groups. Nine people were hospitalized, two in critical condition, most of them stabbed.
A clash in February between a handful of Ku Klux Klan members and a much larger bunch of counter-protesters in Anaheim, Calif., followed the same script. In that fight, a KKK member was injured and three counter-protesters were stabbed.
Racist group gatherings aren’t the only ones that fit the pattern. Violent clashes also have erupted between protesters and attendees at rallies for Donald Trump in the California cities of San Jose, Anaheim and Costa Mesa.
After last Sunday’s violence, groups eager to broadcast their offensive message must surely be considering more such events.
We agree with Antifa Sacramento, the group that organized the counter-protest, that there’s no place in America for the racism at the core of the white nationalist agenda. What we disagree with is the idea that skinheads and neo-Nazis, or anyone else with a wrongheaded view, shouldn’t have a First Amendment right to free speech.
As should be apparent by now, spilling blood isn’t an effective or appropriate way to oppose fringe hate groups on a soapbox. Those planning anti-racist events in the future should follow another playbook, one that doesn’t amplify the message of hate. For example, all they have to do is show up at a white nationalist rally to make it clear that the numbers are on their side.
— Los Angeles Times
