Australia bans Nazi salutes, swastikas

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its also reminiscent of the congressional push a few decades back to make it illegal to burn a US flag.
One of the concerns it would actually promote it and further tie-up courts.

 

IMO the US is a bit different as one of our primary principles is freedom of speech (that is, without the government intervening to suppress our speech).

 

Please don't ever compare the freedom or "democracy" we have here in the United States to any Western European nation or otherwise. Our Constitution makes us still, to this day, a unicorn.

 

A rare time I agree with your sentiment.

 

I’m comfortable with it so long as its spirit also applies to the pro-Hamas crowd. They need to be treated precisely the same as the white supremacists.

 

Are there really crowds of pro-Hamas people in the United States? Or are they pro-Palestine? I think it's very important not to conflate the two.

 

This argument has been had as naseum. You can see a distinction if you like. I do not. Just as if we were in 1943 and we had a bunch of protesters sowing discord and interrupting commerce toward the end of stopping our bombing of Germany. You could try to say, “Oh, they’re just pro-German,” but they would still be supporting Nazi desired ends however you slice it. That would make them pro-Nazi. So I’ll keep calling pro-Hamas protestors exactly what they are and calling for the law to treat them the same way we would if the KKK were protesting without permit, obstructing traffic, and interfering with lawful commerce.

 

You make a strong argument. Because it's in hindsight, I don't think the slippery slope objection applies. We know the consequences of Nazism and must squelch it before it spreads, IMHO.

 

There were large pro-Nazi rallies in the United States in 1939. They quickly evaporated after the U.S. entered WW2. We didn't have to outlaw it. The people took care of the problem on their own. Shocking stuff, I know.