“The Daily Beast.com” has posted an article by Kelly Weill titled, “Nazi Children’s Books, KKK Onesies Are for Sale on Amazon”. The subhead reads, “Hate propaganda marketed for kids is sold through the online retailer, researchers found, and they’ve so far dodged censors.” Apparently, Kelly and “The Daily Beast” didn’t get the memo that the First Amendment guarantees your right to be a flaming jerk. From the article:

Baby onesies featuring a burning cross, swastika necklaces, and “costumes” depicting a black man being lynched have all found a recent home on Amazon, according to a new study by the Action Center on Race and the Economy and the Partnership for Working Families. The study also found a trove of white supremacist literature that has been created on Amazon’s publishing platform. Those products lingered on the site despite Amazon’s policy prohibiting “products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,” the company states on its website.

Great Caesar’s Ghost! Amazon has a policy prohibiting “products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,”! How does one police that? What standards are used?

There are three groups cited in Miss Weill’s article. The first group is the Action Center on Race and the Economy which is one of those “intersectional” groups. The Partnership for Working Families which advocates for Social Justice is the second group. The third group is the infamous Southern Poverty Law Center. Yes, ladies and gentlemen step right up and watch as the SPLC declares anyone to the right of George Soros a racist, bigoted, homophobic hate group.

Censorship and labeling any speech “hate speech” is very troubling to me. I am not a lawyer and I only had 12 hours of business law in college, so I know next to nothing. However, it seems to me that censorship doesn’t stop people from thinking ugly things, censorship just drive them underground. If ugly, hateful things are driven underground they cannot be cleansed by sunlight.

I love the First Amendment. I love all four parts of the First Amendment. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Assembly (or Association) and the Right to Petition the government for redress.

Let me address the title in which I said the First Amendment guarantees your right to be a jerk. True fact. The First Amendment Guarantees the right to be a bigot, racist, sexist homophobe. You can hate anyone you want to hate for any reason rational or irrational. You cannot yell fire in a theater and you cannot assault someone like the man who assaulted the child at Whataburger. For the love of beef, who assaults people at Whataburger? I love Whataburger. Victory Girls’ own Deanna wrote about the “Whataburger Assault” and you can read it here. That’s not Freedom of Speech. That’s being a bully and a jerk and, also, assault.

Let’s look at an example of Freedom of Speech that is right up to the line.

I defend Representative Maxine Waters’ right to hate Trump and anyone who works for his administration or voted for him. She came very close to the that thin line when she called for “harassment”. No one can know whether she inspired the “Whataburger Assault” unless the cowardly bully says Waters inspired him.

There you have it. Let retailers sell Nazi, Socialist, Che Guevera, Pol Pot, Mao or Stalin merchandise. I would rather know who the hate-filled jerks are than have them hidden in the shadows. There will always be a jerk who hates you know matter what your race, creed, color, nation of origin or sexual orientation.

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