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No, sorry, there is really no equivalence between the two groups. The right wing marchers weren't rammed repeatedly by a speeding muscle car. They didn't suffe

No, sorry, there is really no equivalence between the two groups. The right wing marchers weren't rammed repeatedly by a speeding muscle car. They didn't suffer death or critical injury at the hands of their opposition. The counter-protestors did. The counter-protestors didn't surround anyone and beat them with flaming torches. The counter-protestors didn't gang up on a bystander to beat hil with metal poles, presumably for no reason other than that he was black. A few punches were thrown and a few white supremacists got pepper sprayed.

briandear 9y ago
The counter protestors did start fights and threw a rock at the car – which provoked the ramming. No excuse for the reaction, but let’s not pretend the counter protestors were peaceful. They were inciting with equal fervor. Protestors on either side have zero right to violence, regardless of provocation. Freedom of speech isn’t just freedom of speech with which we agree and violence is violence regardless of the perpetrators.
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
  The video of the start of the incident does not show any rocks being thrown. That happened after he'd driven into a crowd of people. As the car in question isn't a DeLorean I don't think he had a time machine, so your version of the story is wrong.
  - zo1 9y ago
    There's now video from behind showing someone hitting the car with a baseball bat before the ramming occurred. No idea how authentic it is. http://www.departmentofmemes.com/article/protesters-attacked-charlottesville-drivers-car-baseball-bat/ http://www.departmentofmemes.com/article/protesters-attacked...
    - SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
      That video is as he's driving by, doing the ramming.
- geofft 9y ago
  > The counter protestors did start fights and threw a rock at the car – which provoked the ramming. The ACLU of Virginia tweeted that a witness told them this, but this was (to my knowledge) not supported by any other witness testimony, and they later apologized for the tweet. Do you have an actual source for this? Also, the tweet did not say that it provoked the ramming, just that someone threw a rock at the car before the driver started ramming people. (Even if it happened, it could have been in self-defense, for instance.)
- tptacek 9y ago
  The available evidence strongly suggests this is false, and that the car attack was pre-planned. Further, no video evidence I've seen corroborates the notion that the driver faced any violence before driving into the crowd. If you're going to promote ideas like this, I think you have an obligation to include your sourcing, with links. A false rumor gets 3/4 of the way around the world before the truth can get its socks on.
pharrington 9y ago
Observing and noting key similarities between two different sets is not equivalent to saying the two sets are equivalent.
purple-again 9y ago
Rhetoric doesn't help anyone. I've seen the video of the incident you are referencing with the black man being attacked. We don't see any part of what caused that incident. Why didn't they attack the hundreds of other blacks they passed by? Probably because that's not the reason he was attacked.
valuearb 9y ago
The black man who was beaten had allegedly first punched a Nazi according to news reports. While I would never begrudge him his motivation, it seems there may have been some provocation on both sides. The real problem was there weren't enough police and they weren't effective enough at preventing the violence. The nutcase terrorist who used his car as a murder weapon probably never could have been stopped, but the many other inciting incidents and attacks could have been shut down with quick arrests.

briandear 9y ago

The counter protestors did start fights and threw a rock at the car – which provoked the ramming. No excuse for the reaction, but let’s not pretend the counter protestors were peaceful. They were inciting with equal fervor. Protestors on either side have zero right to violence, regardless of provocation. Freedom of speech isn’t just freedom of speech with which we agree and violence is violence regardless of the perpetrators.

SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
The video of the start of the incident does not show any rocks being thrown. That happened after he'd driven into a crowd of people. As the car in question isn't a DeLorean I don't think he had a time machine, so your version of the story is wrong.
- zo1 9y ago
  There's now video from behind showing someone hitting the car with a baseball bat before the ramming occurred. No idea how authentic it is. http://www.departmentofmemes.com/article/protesters-attacked-charlottesville-drivers-car-baseball-bat/ http://www.departmentofmemes.com/article/protesters-attacked...
  - SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
    That video is as he's driving by, doing the ramming.
geofft 9y ago
> The counter protestors did start fights and threw a rock at the car – which provoked the ramming. The ACLU of Virginia tweeted that a witness told them this, but this was (to my knowledge) not supported by any other witness testimony, and they later apologized for the tweet. Do you have an actual source for this? Also, the tweet did not say that it provoked the ramming, just that someone threw a rock at the car before the driver started ramming people. (Even if it happened, it could have been in self-defense, for instance.)
tptacek 9y ago
The available evidence strongly suggests this is false, and that the car attack was pre-planned. Further, no video evidence I've seen corroborates the notion that the driver faced any violence before driving into the crowd. If you're going to promote ideas like this, I think you have an obligation to include your sourcing, with links. A false rumor gets 3/4 of the way around the world before the truth can get its socks on.

pharrington 9y ago

Observing and noting key similarities between two different sets is not equivalent to saying the two sets are equivalent.

purple-again 9y ago

Rhetoric doesn't help anyone. I've seen the video of the incident you are referencing with the black man being attacked. We don't see any part of what caused that incident. Why didn't they attack the hundreds of other blacks they passed by? Probably because that's not the reason he was attacked.

valuearb 9y ago

The black man who was beaten had allegedly first punched a Nazi according to news reports. While I would never begrudge him his motivation, it seems there may have been some provocation on both sides. The real problem was there weren't enough police and they weren't effective enough at preventing the violence. The nutcase terrorist who used his car as a murder weapon probably never could have been stopped, but the many other inciting incidents and attacks could have been shut down with quick arrests.