Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Moral Equivalence

A protest rally was held by neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and other white supremacists. They said they want to “take back” America, though it isn’t entirely clear what that means. They seemed to be protesting the existence of African-Americans, Jews, Hispanics, immigrants, and other minority groups in America. As could be expected, counter-protesters showed up to protest the extremists. President Trump said there was violence on both sides. Is he right? Only in the most literal sense. Yes, there was violence and fighting in the streets, but the two sides are not morally equivalent. When hateful elements arise in our society, good and moral society must push back. There is a very famous quote, often attributed to Irish statesman Edmund Burke:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Trump said “some very fine people” were among the white supremacist crowd. Allow this blogger to propose another point of view. “Very fine people” don’t attend white supremacist rallies. “Very fine people” don’t mix with Nazis and Klansmen and other haters. If you ever find yourself in a crowd of torch-carrying bigots who are marching in the night and shouting racial slurs, you can be fairly certain you’re not a “very fine person.” Just what the hell is going on in Donald Trump’s brain?

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