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Opinion

Chaos in Charlottesville Can Be Blamed on More Than One Side

In the aftermath of the violence of Charlottesville, one has to wonder how the situation got out of control. Certainly the white nationalists and their supporters are most to blame, especially since one of them drove a car through a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring many others. But the counter-protesters (consisting of Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other left-wingers) are also to blame for the violence. After all, people from both sides engaged in violent behavior.

At this point, it is unclear if the authorities in Charlottesville did enough to prevent the situation from spinning out of control. Perhaps they thought this rally (named the Unite the Right Rally by its organizers) would not result in violence, especially since white supremacists have held three demonstrations in Charlottesville over the past three months, all of which attracted counter-demonstrations but did not result in any violence. Thus, it is possible the authorities either underestimated the number of people from both sides of extremists or were naïve about the potential for violence. Or maybe they did not have enough time or manpower to handle the situation. However, considering that the Unite the Right Rally took place on both Friday and Saturday, and that the situation began to escalate on Friday, it is unclear why the police did not take more decisive measures.

At any rate, the situation in Charlottesville became a battleground between elements of the far left and the far right. And the police should have arrested everyone on both sides once things got out of hand.

There are those people who have criticized the Donald for not mentioning any extremists by name (some people even criticized him for not using the term domestic terrorism). But it appears he was actually denouncing all of those who had engaged in violence. What he could have said is “both sides” (i.e. both the right-wing extremists and the left-wing extremists) as opposed to saying “many sides”.

As for Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, he stated that white nationalists are not welcome in Virginia, but he made no remarks about the leftists who were also responsible for the violence. So perhaps Blacks Lives Matter, Anitfa, and their fellow leftists are welcome in Virginia.

Meanwhile, a police helicopter which was monitoring the situation from above crashed, killing two officers. The cause of the crash is still being investigated.

It should also be noted that the White Nationalists were holding a rally because the City of Charlottesville decided to remove a statute of Robert E. Lee from one of its parks, which in turn is just another knee-jerk reaction in the aftermath of Charleston, South Carolina by a white supremacist two years ago, in which the politically correct crowd decided anything to do with the Confederacy had to go.

In conclusion, the events in Charlottesville can be described as despicable. And although the authorities could have done more to preserve order, the left-wing extremists and right-wing extremists who chose to engage in violence can both be blamed. Hence, it is a double-edge sword.

Screen Shot: http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/07/09/kkk-rally-protest-charlottesville-orig-vstop-cws.cnn

Share if you agree there is lots of blame to be assigned to more than one side in the Charlottesville, VA chaos.

Andrew Linn

Andrew Linn is a member of the Owensboro Tea Party and a former Field Representative for the Media Research Center. An ex-Democrat, he became a Republican one week after the 2008 Presidential Election. He has an M.A. in history from the University of Louisville, where he became a member of the Phi Alpha Theta historical honors society. He has also contributed to examiner.com and Right Impulse Media.

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