They're white supremacists, so I am actually afraid of their ideas spreading.
Not exactly a new idea, I think it's been around for a while and Ann Coulter be damned will probably stick around for a while too (unfortunately).
And then occasionally they become president.
This is Disney movie logic. We live in the real world. Reactionary, racist and sexist rhetoric has been privileged in intellectual discourse for hundreds of years and it's only recently that there's been any suggestion that it wasn't the natural order. White supremacists have been known to be resistant to reasoned argument and to require violent resistance.
The idea is to educate those listening, not those speaking, and to do it with consistency. Violent Resistance is absolutely necessary at times. Honestly, if we want to squash white supremacy the best way to do it is to force some of these idiots to live with minorities. I propose Mega Cities, that'l show em.
For the record I completely re-edited my post because I wasn't happy with how I was wording things.
Sanders literally said booing and talking over her was bad, he literally said anything except politely debating her (as if that's going to happen) is intellectual weakness... his words.
It's not a great thing to say, I'll give you that. But these protests turning violent just gives the opposition ammo and in the end things go right back to where they were. On top of that, Ann Coulter isn't exactly a powerful figure these days, and I imagine white supremacists aren't thrilled with the fact that she has a longstanding relationship with a black man.
You know what else legitimizes hate speech? Giving it a platform that they control (ie good luck getting any semblance of an actual debate) uncontested.
They don't control Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or any of these avenues in which White Supremacy continues to be prevalent. I don't imagine speaking at a liberal college in a liberal state is exactly reaching a receptive audience. It seems like these people book speeches are Berkley just to get them cancelled so they can get publicity.
I am afraid of their ideas spreading... because their ideas are horrific and encourage hatred... why wouldn't I be afraid.
As I said above, it's not exactly some new age thinking. These people have been around for centuries, and suddenly yelling over them in a heavily Liberal setting isn't going to conquer racism.
Also:
1) Ann Coulter has been around for like decades... she hasn't been buried like at all
2) Milo literally only got burred because he said fucking young teens was good.... that was luck, he'd just been given a huge platform on Maher's show where thanks to Maher doing fuck nothing had actually come off well and was likely on an upwards trajectory. The only thing that killed him was saying 13 year olds should have sex with adults... That's it. The next Milo might not be that fucked up, the next Milo might just hate queer folk, POC, women, trans folk and that person will be just fine.
3) Blonde Republican #12 got buried for being pro-choice... so the next one might not say that out loud
1. And she's still a joke, but now she has more buzz about her.
2. Milo was always doomed.
3. It was the one thing she said that was reasonable, and that was her undoing.
He's good at amendments i'll give you that, he's got not much of a legislative record though. Didn't realize being popular counts as an accomplishment. Also turnout for the primary (the only reasonable measure to the claim he's gotten a lot of people involved in politics) was lower than 2008 so I question that claim, if you have stats though i am willing to be wrong.
2008 was an exception not a rule. Obama got insane turnout, and the Democratic Party didn't have quite as much negative press as it did in 2016. You would think the Democrats would have kept that momentum going through 2010, 2012, 2014, and into 2016, but they failed to do so.
