You would be surprised at the amount of information I receive in this shithole. For instance, there is a newspaper delivered every morning, however only one copy is provided. I left out one a pertinent fact: that paper is the Washington Post. Still, things could be worse.

In today’s Metro section, there was an article about the right wing rallies in Washington, D.C. By the time you read this post, they will have already happened, but I had a few things to say. Basically, the entire hit boils down to this: Richard Spencer calls the “alt-lite” losers. Mike Cernovich calls Spencer a loser while making a joke about Nazi salutes. Then Lucian Wintrich wraps things by shitting on Spencer as well.

First off, it’s funny how these posts about the alt-right, “alt-lite”, and the New Right only get written when major figures from one of the those various camps are slinging  mud at one another. It’s almost like the media has some kind of agenda. Notice how they only promote any sort of new political movement if it’s associated with centrism. This does for both left and right-wing. The reason for this is simple. Entrenched media interests are mostly concerned with preserving the status quo. They may push on certain hot-button social issues, but true change to the underlying system scares them to death.

As for Cernovich, Spencer and Wintrich, I like all three. That doesn’t mean I co-sign everything that comes out of their mouths. I’ve publicly disagreed with all three at one point or another. I still like their contributions to the public debate, though. Am I interested in a white ethnostate? No. That still wouldn’t stop me from appearing with Spencer, although I certainly understood why some might choose not to. As one of the young organizers said in the Washington Post, the decision to hold a a counter-rally to the one Spencer is going to is in  itself a expression of free speech.

When I was growing up, I took it for granted that most people shared my views about free speech. At least, it felt like most people of my age cohort did. I still feel like most of my generation is fairly strong on the topic, especially when you contrast with ones coming behind. I was listening to CSPAN Radio earlier today when a senator quoted recent Pew survey on this subject. It found that around 40% of people under the age of 30 believe that allowing around everyone to exercise their free speech right, equally is “dangerous”. This is in line with other recent stat, I’ve seen and it should trouble anyone who believes, as I do that, freedom of speech is the most important right we have in this country.

I wish both rallies the best. If I see something in the paper, I might talk about the particulars. But I fell like real insights from this story have to do with the way the media treats insurgent politics and the battle to protect the freedom of speech. Both areas are sure to sure to get even hotter as we move further into the 21st century.