Emotion is The Worst Weapon
Following the case of the "Unite the Right" rally which occured on August 12th in the city of Charlottesville, VA, there was much speculation as to what types of actions were going to be taken against both sides of the incident. Before touching on that particular discussion, a background on the incident itself should be explained further. Prior to the event, there was much outbreak in the "White" Nationalist Community due to the act of removing a statue of a prior confederate general Robert E. Lee. In response to the statues removal, many white Nationalists staged a protest in acts of furry in hopes of overcoming its removal. What followed after those protests arrival was a war yet to come.
In the midst of white Nationalists gathering in Charlottesville for protests, they were met with the face of counter protesters who were voicing their own. Although the First Amendment fell under both parties acts and they both had the right to voice their arguments, the question is what laws exactly were broken through the incident? In the midst of the situation, both parties of Nationalists and counters broke the law by letting the their emotions get the best of them Both parties broke out in physical violence against one another, even to the result of a car being driven into a full crowd of protesters inflicting harm.
Both parties broke the law in this act regardless of opinion due to their emotions getting the best of them. Individuals on both sides lashed out against one another physically putting hundreds in danger as well as themselves. Clearly driving a car into a full crowd justifies some form of law being broken to the common person. Yet again, the term common person is interpreted differently by each individual, as clearly seen in the event.
Although the First Amendment guarantees individuals the right to freedom of speech, it does not serve the justification of producing intentional harm within that act. Both parties let their emotions get the best of them, due to built up strong opinions. Regardless of this event, it is only one of countless many examples throughout history, this was just a clear example to the public that nothing has changed. A persons emotions will always get the best of them in some way shape or form, and white Nationalism is something that will never change, it is incapably possible at this point. These views have been molded into today's society, and need to be acknowledged. It is just the fact of how individuals can cope with the act of hatred in the world.
I like the like the little background history that you make, it's helps a lot to understand your position, also it's cool to see how you didn't take a side, showing that both parts have their part of the fault. Just be careful with the random capital letters that you have.
ReplyDeleteI like how your blog post was not as biased, and you greatly explained the significance of the 1st Amendment and how it goes throughout our history. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniela that having some background to the protest really puts it in context. The protest about the confederate statue was what drove the white supremacists to Charlottesville (versus home bases in Montana and elsewhere) in the first place. I can't help but agree that this topic is overfull of emotion on both sides: the sides of the alt-right to fight for a very different version of America than its current form, through violent imagery and hate speech (which is what happened during the event), and the speech and rights of the counter-protestors to live in a country that escapes the hate of the past. This scenario was just a flame to dry tinder...
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post, free of bias and information well explained. The background history makes the read a little easier to.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on that both parties broke the law due to emotions. Everyone was sad and hurt that somehing like this happened. I also love the first sentence of the last paragraph. You definietly speak the truth. Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that emotion can cloud our judgment and can sometimes cause us to make decisions that aren’t very smart. Both the protesters and the counter protesters stood up for something they believed, but along the way got distracted and resorted to violence as the answer. I also agree with the fact that both parties did break the law and a result of that, many lives were put in danger, and even left one person dead. Going as far as driving a car into a crowd of people solves nothing and only draws more attention to the situation. Of course they exercised their First Amendment right, but definitely took it too far.
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