Anti-protester law

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

The "Unmasking Antifa" act would make wearing a mask at a protest punishable by up to 15 years in prison. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-con ... format=txt

That's rather disturbing.

[AllanO]

Two things, I could have missed something but the law proposed seems to be about making wearing a mask something that justifies/calls for enhanced penalties, but there would have to be some action that was already a crime for that enhancement to come into effect. So you would have already been liable to jail time at the protest, not clear for how long since I can't see the statute it is amending. Second there are already lots of anti-mask laws on the books at various state and municipal levels, these tend to like this one enhance existing laws although I think some may be actual bans on wearing masks in public. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask ... ted_States

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Do you know how many people were imprisoned, and still are imprisoned, simply for protesting 45's inauguration?

Anything that makes it easier to punish protester makes it harder to oppose evil in power.

[Karha of Honor]

Do you know how many people were imprisoned, and still are imprisoned, simply for protesting 45's inauguration?

Anything that makes it easier to punish protester makes it harder to oppose evil in power.

I had no idea evil was confused, short sighted and blabbering bufoon like Trump.

[CharlesPhipps]

People thought George W. Bush was a buffoon.

They had no idea.

[LittleRaven]

First of all, don't freak out yet. This bill hasn't even made it out of committee yet, and almost certainly never will. It has barely any sponsors. It's red meat for the base of a few Republican representatives, nothing more. At least for now.

But it's maybe worth talking about to what extent we should allow people to wear masks while engaging in behavior that many people find threatening. We allow, for instance, the KKK to march. The Constitution gives them the freedom to assemble, and it forces cities to issue permits for KKK parades.

We do not, however, allow them to march like this:


Pretty much every area in the nation has laws on the books to make sure that if the Klan wants to march, they have to do so UNMASKED. Probably not coincidentally, Klan marches are much, MUCH smaller and infrequent than they used to be. Were we wrong to implement these laws?

I don't think so. I'm all for people participating in the political process....even if that participation is vigorous. But I'm not sure anonymity contributes much to anything. Alt-Righters in Charlottesville were not allowed to cover their faces - and it meant that we were ultimately able to prosecute many of them who took things too far. While I don't think we need a law specifically named after Antifa, is there some compelling reason that we should allow left-wing protesters to remain masked while demanding that right wing protesters surrender theirs?

[Karha of Honor]

People thought George W. Bush was a buffoon.

They had no idea.

And he was.

[CharlesPhipps]

The problem is this congress has repeatedly been less than helpful on racist activity and outright supportive in many places.

The law could be used against the KKK but will it?

[LittleRaven]

The law could be used against the KKK but will it?

Probably not, but that's mostly because the KKK is practically non-existent as a political force in the US today. Their successors, most of whom identify with the Alt-Right, do not, as a general rule, wear masks. Look at Charlottesville.


These people are proud of who they are. They believe, however mistakenly, that they're on the side of the angels, and they see no need to hide their faces. (well that, and they're well aware of the fact that putting on a mask gives the police the power to bust you in most locations)

The only ones who are big into the mask-wearing business right now are the Black Bloc, which has some overlap with Antifa, but it's a big, messed up Venn Diagram. Most of the people on the left don't wear masks either. Black Lives Matter, for instance, rarely don masks. I would suggest this is because people who honestly believe they're doing the right thing don't usually feel a need for masks.

Now of course the calculations for all these things get complex. How much do you value order over justice? How do you balance protecting yourself against an unjust government vs standing up for what you believe in? How much violence are you comfortable with vs what do you want to see accomplished? What goal is worth what price given what odds of success?

The philosophers have been arguing about these questions for as long as we've been writing down history, and there don't appear to be any universal answers. Every individual and society has to drawn their own line. Heck, we have a constantly redraw lines as society evolves. Ours laws suggest that our society decided a while ago that wearing masks during political protests is counterproductive. Is there a compelling case for revisiting that decision?

[Admiral X]

If you remember back to the Scientology protests, anti-mask laws in some states actually meant some of the protestors wearing masks were arrested. These laws were actually on the books specifically because of the KKK, for essentially the same reasons being stated here. Back in their heyday, they could be quite the violent thugs, too, so I'm not surprised to see antifa's antics have provoked a similar response.