Unless the act is between consenting adults or performed in self defense, physically attacking someone — punching them in the mouth, tackling them to the ground or silencing them in a choke hold, for example — is inexcusable.
Most reasonable people over the age of 6 would tell you that. It is a basic lesson we are taught once we start interacting with people outside of our own tribe: keep your hands to yourself.
Even if the other person in front of you is a bigot.
Or a racist.
Or a white supremacist.
Or a Nazi.
Or any of the other representatives of the intellectually and socially stunted segments of humanity populating this planet.
Attacking someone merely because they express or hold an idea — no matter how vile and contemptible it is — is nothing to be encouraged. Violence against people is ugly and must be avoided if we want to keep progressing toward coexistence.
Yet videos and photographs of presumably well-meaning people beating white supremacist knuckleheads who are protesting make the rounds on social media and are often met with an abundance of comments praising and justifying the action.
It is an awkward and uncomfortable position to be in when you find yourself sickened not only by a racist’s message but by the actions of a person who purportedly believes in social justice and equality — all while they are delivering a beat down in the name of tolerance.
A reasonable alternative to punching a racist isn’t hugging one. Nor is it necessarily ignoring them. As with all things dangerous and potentially destructive, those who would tear apart a community and promote chaos with their underdeveloped ideas must be monitored and kept in check through public policy and social contracts.
South County does not lend itself to large-scale protests. More often than not when the populace is moved to social activism en masse they gather in San Diego.
But years ago when members of the Minutemen Project brought their anti-immigrant rhetoric to National City, dozens and dozens of people gathered outside City Hall there.
On one side of the street stood one faction of people shouting and waving signs at a group on the other side. There were a few minor altercations between the groups. Police overall did a good job of keeping the peace. Eventually the groups were dispersed and most people went home, limbs and senses intact.
That is how all protests, large or small, should end.
No one should receive a whopping for expressing their beliefs and ideology, no matter how deplorable they may be.
Besides, it is easier to get someone to come around to your way of thinking when they can listen to you instead of when they are an unconscious heap on the ground.
