“Your Hate is Killing People.” These are the words of an anti-Trump protester’s sign.
Is it really true? Can an emotion, or idea, be responsible for killing people?
Not a chance. Actions kill people; not emotions. You might feel like hitting or even killing somebody. But it doesn’t mean you have to do it.
People who accuse Donald Trump of hatred base it on his positions about immigration, Islam and political correctness. The sign suggests that because these positions are allegedly hateful, Trump himself is responsible for any violence or murder that occurs.
This is the basis for censorship. Censorship comes today from every direction. Ted Cruz claims Donald Trump asked for it. He said Trump “bears responsibility for creating an environment when the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence to punch people in the face.”
How can one be responsible for creating an environment where violence becomes inevitable? I can see saying this if you pull out a weapon, or threaten to use one. But is Trump responsible for inciting violence merely because of his positions, many positions which Ted Cruz shares?
Cruz is referring to comments Trump has reportedly made at rallies, such as telling supporters to “knock the crap out of” ruffians who invade and threaten supporters who attend those rallies.
It’s not inciting violence to tell people to stand up to threats. It’s really more like self-defense. The aggressors (Black Lives Matter, etc.) are the ones who started it all by making the threats and going where they don’t belong.
While telling a crowd to knock the crap out of protesters might not be the best judgment, it’s not morally on the same level as the thugs and glorified gang members who comprise organizations like “Black Lives Matter.” We have to distinguish between those who invade a rally, making threats, and those who threaten merely to fight back.
Just like leftists who blame non-leftists for anything bad that happens, saying it’s the result of “hate speech,” Ted Cruz is blaming the victim when he claims Donald Trump is responsible for threats against him or his supporters. Next time Ted Cruz could be the victim, but so long as it’s Trump, he does not care.
And let’s not forget: Donald Trump himself has been guilty of the same thing.
Last year, columnist Pamela Geller held a contest in Garland TX called “Draw Muhammad.” It was a courageous, principled event designed to stand up to the terrorists who murder cartoonists and others for daring to insult or question their religion. Trump belittled it.
“What in the hell is she doing?” Trump said on “Fox & Friends,” regarding Pamela Geller and her event.
“She’s taunting them,” he added. “What is the purpose of it?”
“Isn’t there something else they could draw?” he asked earlier.
Trump, like Cruz now, was blaming the victim. He was basically saying, “These people brought the violence on themselves.”
Now it has come back to bite him, with Cruz (and others) doing the same thing to him. I won’t excuse Trump’s unjust thinking in the past, and I won’t excuse Cruz’s wrong thinking now, either.
It’s called blaming the victim. “If you have ideas other people don’t like, then you’re just asking for violence.” Therapists like me have heard it hundreds of times. “Well, the kids should have known that when daddy gets into a mood, you don’t annoy him. You’re just asking to get beat up.” Or after a rape or sexual abuse, “Well, she dressed in a provocative way. What did she expect?”
When selecting a candidate for President, Americans need someone to stand up for the rights of man, i.e. for liberty. The most precious and basic liberty of all is freedom of speech. Trump and Cruz, like Hillary Clinton on the left, think they’re upholding free speech, but they’re not. Not consistently, at least.
With everyone running for president right now, free speech is conditional. That’s much more frightening than anything Trump says to his supporters, or any anti-Muslim cartoon someone else might draw to make a point.
The true test of free speech is when someone says things you don’t like, but you’re left free from violence, just the same. Is it too much to ask even one of our candidates for president to recognize this?
Shame on Donald Trump for his response to the Garland TX massacre. Shame on Ted Cruz for his response to Trump.
Now where can the rest of us go to find a candidate who will stand up for free speech where it really counts?
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