{"id":291359,"date":"2017-01-23T21:54:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T20:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/should-we-punch-nazis-in-the-head\/"},"modified":"2017-01-23T21:54:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T20:54:04","slug":"should-we-punch-nazis-in-the-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/should-we-punch-nazis-in-the-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Should We Punch Nazis in the Head?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nazi\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No, we should not.<\/p>\n

Condoning, applauding or giggling over the idea of punching people in the head whose political positions, however abhorrent, we don’t agree with is so wrong I am not even sure why it is necessary to talk about it. However, given the events of this weekend, it seems we have to talk about it.<\/p>\n

“Is it OK to punch a Nazi for what he said?” is a question bouncing around the media<\/a> and the Internet after an attack on Richard Spencer following the Trump inauguration. Spencer created the term alt-right. On video, he was explaining the meaning of Pepe the Frog, a silly cartoon figure somehow adopted as a mascot by the racist, far-right fringe movement Spencer promotes as anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and anti-feminist.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The punch was captured on video:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There are over 4,500 comments on YouTube alone, and most condone the punch. The most popular format is to say “I don’t condone violence BUT<\/em>…” and then go on to condone violence. Another popular comment is to mention Hitler, WWII and the defeat of the Nazis, and somehow see the video as a part of that 70-year-old global struggle fought between nation states.<\/p>\n

The main thrust of commentary is that violence is now justified as a response to speech by the right some do not care for. More than a few people have suggested punching someone in the head is in fact a form of protected free speech itself, and others seem to think whatever they label as “hate speech” is a crime. Others mouth stuff along the lines of “the end justifies the means.”<\/p>\n

A popular meme is to put different songs, many calling for violence themselves, behind the punching video. Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, tweeted<\/a> “I don’t care how many different songs you set Richard Spencer being punched to, I’ll laugh at every one.”<\/p>\n

Where to begin?<\/p>\n