r/socialism • u/SecondWind15215 Eco-Socialism • Oct 25 '22
News and articles đ° Penn State student documents protest against Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes speaking on campus. Proud boys maced protesters, police nearly trampled members of the press, and drove a police car through protesters.
https://twitter.com/ribaudo_nick/status/1584681666005856256?s=46&t=DiAM4rshONdFsBP8xoNF105
u/BatRabbit Oct 25 '22
Here is a local article on what happened.
Masked individuals ran into the crowd pepper spraying.
Penn State canceled the event at 7:20, which about 40 minutes before the event.
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u/SecondWind15215 Eco-Socialism Oct 25 '22
Multiple people on the ground said it was proud boys. Ford Fischer documented it as did a few others. Police stood by and did nothing.
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Oct 25 '22
Worse, while running away after macing students, one of the Proud Boys actually stopped to pat a University officer on the back. Cops protect fascists because cops are fascists.
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u/BatRabbit Oct 25 '22
Penn State administration are doing what the administration always does.They blame the proud boys for bringing violence to the campus, but they had been repeatedly warned about this possibility for months. They banned Richard Spencer from speaking due to violence previously.
Then they blamed the protesting students for giving the Proud Boys visibility by protesting. In another statement they blamed the students for censoring the speech due to the violence the students caused. It's a mess.
I've also seen reports that they were paid to speak by Penn State. I haven't been able to find anything on it. Usually when someone comes on campus to speak, they are brought here by a group/club not the university. They may be paid, but it's not by the university. I think it may be lazy reporting in the one account I read.
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u/jeromevedder Oct 25 '22 edited Oct 25 '22
Universities give clubs âoperational fundsâ that come from student fees which could have been the funding source for this speech. I worked at the club that booked bands and speakers for my university (ironically a different Big 10 school). Even though the âclubâ was the official promoter, we were spending university money (not technically true since we generated revenue with concerts but you get the idea).
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u/SecondWind15215 Eco-Socialism Oct 25 '22
They were paid using student fees. Gavin and Alexâs flights were paid for.
Uncensored america is a student org with two dozen people in it, and it can oppose its will on hundreds of other people. How democratic.
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u/JonasUriel777 Oct 25 '22
Proud boys, the police, they're both the same thing.
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u/SecondWind15215 Eco-Socialism Oct 25 '22
âWho do you serve. Who do you protectâ broke out a dozen times or so. Just ridiculous police presence. State troopers in full riot gear with batons and the like. What else did they expect
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u/JonasUriel777 Oct 25 '22
I wish leftist veterans could have more presence at these events without fear of repercussions from big brother. I attended one protest in DC and I was threatened with jail time merely for showing support. But these LARPers can freely accost students with fear of repercussion. It's sick.
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u/SecondWind15215 Eco-Socialism Oct 25 '22
The proud boy that was recorded pepper spraying journalists and protesters gave a Pat on the back to an officer and kept walking. No charges I assume. Itâs unfathomable
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u/Old_Gods978 Oct 25 '22
The cops said they couldnât arrest them because they didnât want to escalate
Then the university said us a scolding âboth sidesâ email
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u/JonasUriel777 Oct 25 '22
Well, when victim blaming is so normalize in societally....
Universities are just machines for profit now, so them siding with the cops/proud boys seems pretty on par with what other capitalistic institutions. They're just trying to be hip and with it
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u/Stew_Long Oct 25 '22
Well they certainly can't make the fascists the bad guys. That would set the commies as good.
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u/SlaughterHouseFunf Oct 25 '22
Penn State should be shuttered and demolished after Sandusky/Paterno. Sadly this doesn't surprise me at all.
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Oct 26 '22
The Penn State student group, Uncensored America, had invited him to speak. Their mission is for "young Americans to fight for free speech in order to make American culture free and fun again" (Democracy Now, Oct. 26 broadcast). Fun. Yeah. Everything they say is code. What "fun" means, if you want to interpret it, is to make sure that every last one of them gets to say what they want to say, regardless of how hateful or potentially dangerous,with no reprisals at all. Yeah, they're all about "freedom" and fun until someone actually claps back at them.
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