OPINION EDITORIAL:
An Assault on the First Amendment
You might not agree with what I have to say, but I will give you the courtesy of at least listening to what you have to say and defend your right to say it. That’s how our Republic is supposed to work and we settle our differences with ballots, not bullets or violence.
This is why this video is so troubling to me, personally.
I knew of the Bernie Sanders for President event that was held at Virginia Wesleyan College on February 29th of 2020 and I knew that there were some serious Trump supporters who would be attending to counter-protest, but my wife and I had other plans.
When I awoke this morning, I saw the short video clip of the pro-Trump supporters being grabbed by Security and thrown to the ground and immediately recognized him as one of my fellow members of the Republican Party of Virginia Beach. Here is the short clip, credit to Markus Gohring:
My first question was, “What did he do to provoke THAT?” since I know the protester to be one of the nicest, non-confrontational people I can think of. A hard-core Trump supporter to be sure and he does a lot of work for the party, but to the best of my knowledge, has never spoken a cross-word to anyone nor has anyone ever spoken a cross-word about him.
I then came across another video showing Campus Security doing what Campus Security usually does best, showing up like it’s a life-threatening emergency and over-reacting. The guard that ultimately assaulted the Trump supporter is seen throughout most of the video and appears to me to have a very bellicose attitude and confrontational demeanor. In the part of the video that shows the actual attack by the guard, I counted at least two opportunities for the Trump supporter to turn the tables, seize the initiative and gain the upper hand, but that would have only compounded what was already a deteriorating situation. The Trump supporter was wise to retreat but is seen later in the video freely walking away. One would think that any kind of confrontation like that would usually end in arrest or detention, but that apparently never happened. Here is the longer video, credit to Jarrett Hamm:
I think this video only demonstrates the deepening divide in our country and her political process. I cannot imagine what the Administration of Virginia Wesleyan College is experiencing right now as this story is making its way across the Internet at warp speed and the media is picking it up. I hope they have a big bottle of extra-strength aspirin at Virginia Wesleyan College because their leadership is going to need it.
Sometimes, it’s better to let someone just stand there and hold a flag.
