Comment on What Can a City Do When Neo-Nazis Start Marching Down Its Streets?
Carrolade@lemmy.world 4 months agoWell, yes, you definitely don’t want to let them take over. You want to demonstrate your own strength, and how much you outnumber them.
This is not preventing them from marching in some way, though. That is not doable, it would be illegal. It would also be counterproductive in our current climate of most people underestimating the actual danger.
andyburke@fedia.io 4 months ago
You need to be cautious of the paradox of tolerance.
Carrolade@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m discussing specifics, details, not vague principles. Should there be Neo Nazis allowed to gather and march through some city with their signs? Yes, they should not be prohibited or physically prevented.
Why? Because it helps give evidence to the fact that racism in the modern day is still an enduring problem, and that extreme racism is still a threat. This counters a standard conservative narrative that remains an effective weapon in their toolbox.
Is this tolerance? No, not necessarily, not if you’re also counterprotesting, contesting their position, demonstrating that they do not have factuality or popularity on their side.
I’m not some young whippersnapper that thinks in simple, straightforward, black and white ways. It’s a messy and complicated world out there, without simple answers to our problems. So, we need to think in complex ways, paying attention to details and specifics instead of thinking some broad application of some sort of simplified principle can fix what a century of progress failed to.
andyburke@fedia.io 4 months ago
Just to be clear, you are the one advocating for tolerating those promoting intolerance in this situation.
You have laid it out very clearly here.
That is why you are subject to the paradox. Nothing to do with complicated situations or anything. You are saying people who push an ideology of inequality and intolerance.deserve a voice. I do not agree.
Carrolade@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Depends how you define tolerance I suppose. If your opponent is going to harm themselves, though, you should let them.