"Speech, expression and assembly" represent the triumvirate for truth.  Short of breaking existing laws around physical violence and incitement to physical violence, the more we have of all three, the closer we come to that more perfect union, offering the most freedom for the most people with the least government interference.  But in an age of internet technology with deep fakes, bots, hacks, and myriad pathways to craft and deliver mis- and dis-information, radical left-wingers can abuse and use those liberties to tarnish conservatives, desensitize our communities to certain phenomena, and squelch our freedoms.  It behooves individuals, our government, and even watchdog organizations to pause before reacting to information from somewhere on the internet.  

As an example, did you know that, on February 25, America’s neo-Nazi and White Supremacist groups sponsored a national “Day of Hate”? You probably didn’t hear anything about it unless you are Jewish and your inbox was inundated with emails from various Jewish organizations, synagogues, and even local condo boards, warning of “an online campaign by domestic violence extremists, calling for an anti-Semitic “Day of Hate.”

As it turned out, despite the terror this announcement caused in Jewish households and houses of worship across the country and as far away as Israel, the “Day of Hate” passed without incident, as reported in The Forward, a progressive Jewish publication.

It’s good that nothing happened. The last thing anyone wants, including this skeptic, is more violence. But anti-Semitism is on the march, and we must monitor and be aware of it no matter the source—white supremacists, non-white supremacists, Antifa, or Islamic extremists. The problem for Jews and non-Jews alike, as evidenced by the “Day of Hate” that never happened, is that America’s politicians, journalists, and activists are only concerned with anti-Semitism coming from white people.

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I immediately noticed that many warnings included the buzzwords “domestic violence extremists“ or “far-right.” While there were no direct or credible threats, we were asked to be vigilant and report anything of concern to law enforcement—which ironically revealed that leftists perceive law enforcement as a force for good only when white people commit crimes.

I despise Nazis, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists just as much as the next guy, and that’s not just because I’m Jewish or that part of my family perished in the Holocaust. As a human being, I find their brand of hatred inimical to all things human. And yet, somehow, I’ve come to be lumped in with these human disgraces since Nancy Pelosi first accused Tea Partiers of being Nazis, and the White House, FBI, and DOJ have decreed that all who disagree with their policies or the outcome of the 2020 election (aka conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters) are “domestic violence extremists.”

I understand the knee-jerk reaction of wanting to shut up and lock away real Nazis and KKKers. But doing so in the absence of any physical violence or incitement to violence, for relatively peaceful demonstrations of their hate, just sends them further underground. Frankly, I like my Nazis and white supremacists where I can see and hear them.

Furthermore, while their influence and presence waxes and wanes over the decades, providing them with a forum to openly discuss what it means to belong to their loathsome brotherhood, and exposing their blight on our collective history, has kept them from becoming a serious political force. Potentially dangerous and worthy of monitoring? Yes, no matter how few in number. But a driving political force in the USA? Not even remotely.

Thank G-d for that.

The fact that nothing happened suggests it might not have been a real threat to begin with—but I don’t know that for a fact. Usually, but not always, Nazi and KKK types proudly and unabashedly show up for their day in the public square—undeterred by the presence of law enforcement or the vigilance of the groups being threatened.

My worry is that if warnings like this continue to fall flat, the public will eventually stop listening and, one day, might ignore a real threat.

As family emails and texts volleyed back and forth in anticipation of the Day of Hate, I expressed my reservations about the legitimacy of the warnings, which appear to have come from the Anti-Defamation League and a group called the Counter Extremism Project. Did anyone verify that this social media chatter was indeed from real Nazi and white supremacist groups and not disinformation or bots? Or did we all take it at face value and pass on the news, as tenuous as it might have been, like a national game of Operator?

I am concerned this might have been a way to further incite hatred against conservatives and Trump supporters—a vile and heinous way of taking advantage of our collective fear of persecution as Jews for rank political ends.

Until someone can verify this one way or the other, I remain skeptical. I just can’t take groups like the ADL at their word. Much like the NAACP, the ADL once served a laudable and necessary purpose with its place in history fighting anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews. Today, it is an influential cog in the Progressive-Marxist Cartel that seeks to silence and criminalize any opinion, belief, or viewpoint that differs from its own.

We were warned that “Organizers [for the Day of Hate] are encouraging supporters to drop antisemitic banners, place stickers, and flyers, and spray graffiti as forms of activism.” Other than that, there were no credible threats of violence.

Anti-Semitic banners, stickers, flyers and graffiti may be vile, but do not constitute violence in the traditional meaning of the word—although in today’s Woke World, violence has been expanded to include words of hate and words that hurt because they are considered just as violent as real acts of physical violence. Posting pamphlets with hateful words about Jews and displaying the Nazi swastika are hateful actions that make Jews uncomfortable because we know such actions can lead to catastrophic violence, but they are not equivalent to physical acts of violence.

In this country, everyone has a right to peaceably speak, express, and assemble even if we find those activities abhorrent, wrong, bad, or immoral. That was the lesson of the Supreme Court’s Skokie vs Illinois decision in 1977—that a peaceful Nazi march was permissible even in a town that was heavily populated by Jewish Holocaust survivors. The fact they might have been disparaged, triggered, or angered by the march, the banners, or the words, does not vitiate the First Amendment freedoms of the Nazis.

Once we start policing speech and expression based on what a majority deems speech-worthy or a powerful minority deems tolerable or not, the path to totalitarianism comes precipitously fast.

Today, in our America, the Wokists are just that dangerous. Their self-righteous, smug arrogance about what are permissible viewpoints, beliefs, values, or morals, and their unquenchable need to target individuals whose views differ, by outlawing their views and opinions, and punishing them through ostracization, cancellation, and even jail…are far more dangerous to the health of the republic and individual feelings of safety and freedom, than a bunch of brown shirts spraying anti-Semitic tropes on a wall and unfurling Nazi banners.

I am absolutely 100% concerned about neo-Nazi violence and the potential for them to rise to power and persecute my family. I am absolutely 100% committed to monitoring such groups.

But, what keeps me up at night is the threat from people already in power who have labeled conservatives like me—like us—”domestic violence extremists”; who will one day kick down my door in the dead of night and haul me away without any Due Process because of something I said or wrote.

Or, one day, something I thought or dreamt about.

I’ve been front and center in politics for close to 20 years and have been blogging at American Thinker since 2009, and I was never afraid to use my real name. Recent family events and re-entry into the workforce have caused me to reconsider if I should continue to write publicly under my name and risk losing income and family; remain silent; or find another way. Locuta is that other way.