Given the display of violent intolerance that occurred on Boston Common Sunday, we can only assume those involved don’t think much of the eloquent defense of free speech espoused by an enlightened French philosopher-writer-historian before that concept was enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
That man for all seasons, Francois-Marie Arouet, widely known by his nom de plume, Voltaire, is credited with this quote: “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
You could say that sentiment has been turned upside down by those on the far left and right spectrums in this country, who’ve twisted that noble sentiment into a means for inflicting bodily harm on those with whom they vehemently disagree.
“I don’t agree with you, and I’ll do my best to pre-empt your right to express it,” would seem to be the credo these groups live by.
In this latest example of the unwillingness to allow views in conflict with their own to be uttered, counterprotesters pushed through police barricades and clashed with anti-maskers conducting a “pro-freedom” protest.
Super Happy Fun America organizer Brandon Navom, who would identify himself only as “Super Happy Brandon,” told a Boston Herald reporter his supporters came to speak out against mask, vaccine and other coronavirus-related mandates when the chaos caused police to cut power to the speakers, effectively shutting down the protest rally.
The two groups got into it around 11:30 a.m.
“We came here to peacefully protest when we were violently attacked by a mob that pepper-sprayed us, attacked us and refused to allow our van to leave,” Navom said.
Eamon Kavanagh and other members of Boston First Responders United — an organization formed by firefighters, police officers and medics to oppose state-imposed COVID-19 requirements — also participated in Sunday’s rallies.
Holding a sign targeting the governor that read, “Baker is a liar,” Kavanagh said first responders “are against the mandates” requiring workers to get COVID-19 shots or lose their jobs.
“We’re just advocating for our freedom, our medical freedom and to keep our jobs,” Kavanagh said.
On the other side of the fence, literally, counterprotesters organized by Solidarity Against Hate/Boston came out in force, outnumbering the Super Happy Fun America gathering by the hundreds, according to the Herald.
“We don’t want that in our city, anti-vaxxers, people who don’t believe that COVID is real, people that put other people in danger, racist transphobes and people that hate other people for the way they are — that’s not OK,” said Ritla Handelman, an Emerson College student who attended Sunday’s scrum.
To an objective observer, the actions of Handelman and others also could be construed as an expression of hate of other people for the way they are.
Only two arrests came out of this mass melee, officials said, one for disturbing the peace and the other for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and driving to endanger.
Obviously, in other circumstances, the tables have been turned, as in the deadly confrontation with white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.
However, the reluctance of offending parties to just let fringe groups fall on the sword of their own alienating words constitutes a troubling trend.
Might doesn’t make right, be it Antifa, the Proud Boys — or anyone else.
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November 10, 2021 at 05:01PM
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Suppressing free speech is no one’s right - Lowell Sun
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