PAX Centurion - Fall 2017

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • Fall 2017 • Page 39 home …,” then we hope the Globe editorial board members and journalists picked up their little darlings at the Alewife and Riverside MBTA stops and kept dinner warm for them after the riot, because the apples never fall far from the trees. “Why was the media restricted from the bandstand?” Ahhhmmm, perhaps because the multitude of media-idiots would have actually out-numbered the few, pathetic rallygoers? Or to paraphrase Congressman Hank Johnson from Georgia, perhaps there was a concern about the bandstand “tipping over” from having too many people on it? “ …And had the event actually become violent, a media presence would have helped ensure a complete accounting.” If this sentence was meant to be funny, it’s not. That, in a nutshell, tells the lie of the major media in 2017. It is specifically what President Donald Trump means when he accuses the media of “FAKE NEWS.” The major media WAS present, and as anti-police violence swirled around them, with officers being attacked and injured, the major media IGNORED REALITY . Instead, the major media presented a manufactured happy-face of a peaceful protest which did not occur, turning their cameras away from the anti-police riot occurring directly in front of them. The major media – and particularly the Boston Globe – LIED , pure and simple. “And what happens next?... there needs to be a genuine effort to turn angry white people away from radicalism… But unpoisoning a poisonous movement will take longer than an afternoon, and more than just the city’s scorn.” The Boston and State Police Officers present onAugust 19 th could not see the faces of most of those “angry white people… extremists… radicals… poisonous movements” because the cowards had covered their faces with kerchiefs, as the Globe is well aware. But of course, the fascist savages who hide behind black masks ( a classic definition of real-life fascists and Nazis, if ever there was one) whom the Globe pats on the head and dismisses are not the subject of this editorial’s ire: We are . It’s not just the few pathetic losers on a bandstand with a multitude of jumbled, disconnected, quasi- conservative/libertarian causes whom the Globe wants eradicated; it’s you, and me and any police officer or citizen who dares to voice an opinion or relate their real-life observations which are contrary to the Globe’s “progressive” orthodoxy. That is the truly scary point of the final sentence of this deplorable Globe editorial. Anyone who does not agree with left-wing fascism, as practiced by and through the pages of the Boston Globe, must be silenced. And this is supposedly a newspaper which believes – (or should believe?) in the first amendment?We should all be scared. Very scared…. T he far-right rally on Boston Common on Saturday tested the city’s capacity to allow unpopular, even wicked, causes. The city passed: the 50 or so rallygoers, who claimed to be marching for free speech but who have links to white supremacist groups were able to hold their event at Parkman Bandstand. The tens of thousands of counterprotesters, meanwhile, were able to voice their emphatic disapproval. Waving signs, marching, and screaming at the far-right activists, they vastly outnumbered the tiny group at the bandstand. With the nation’s attention focused on Boston, the counterprotesters upheld the city’s reputation and provided living proof of the old adage that the best response to offensive speech is more speech. Most importantly, there was no violence, apart from a few minor scuffles. The police arrested 33 people, some of whom apparently were detained for trying to block vehicles carrying the far-right demonstrators away. Saturday put the lie to a common whine of the so-called alt right — the loose movement of anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and freelance bigots emboldened by President Trump’s election — that they are somehow deprived of their free speech rights. Nonsense. If being mocked, booed, and heckled is the alt-right’s idea of censorship, it may be time to rethink who gets labeled a “snowflake’’ in today’s political environment. The fears of “Antifa’’ violence directed at conservatives also turned out to be overblown. A few counterprotesters in black outfits showed up, made some noise, and then went home. Sorry, but left- wing cosplay isn’t a security threat comparable to neo-Nazi violence. Still, while Saturday was mostly a success, it left a few disquieting questions. Why was media restricted from the bandstand? It may be the case, as First Amendment specialists say, that the right to free speech doesn’t create a right to be heard, but it still would have been better had the public known exactly what the rallygoers were doing and saying. And had the event actually become violent, a media presence would have helped ensure a complete accounting. And, what happens next? The far-right rally’s attendance may have been small, but if the election and the ensuing tumult have showed anything, it’s that the radicalized racist fringe is getting bigger and bolder. Screaming matches at rallies probably won’t change the minds of extremists; there needs to be a genuine effort to turn angry white people away from radicalism. The huge response to Saturday’s rally should be seen as an important statement of public disgust toward vile groups and the hateful beliefs they espouse. But unpoisoning a poisonous movement will take longer than an afternoon, and more than just the city’s scorn. Reprinted from the Boston Globe, Saturday, August 21, 2017. Boston’s mettle is tested, but questions linger