UPDATE: Seeing my post below, Werleman was unrepentant, and called for violence against me as well. This is the unapologetic thuggery (and genuine neo-Nazism) of the contemporary Left.
CJ Werleman is an atheist writer, author of the immortal classic God Hates You, as well as Koran Curious, which (in sharp contrast to his writings on the Bible) goes very easy on jihad and Sharia, and presents a rosy, whitewashed, apologist’s picture of the Islamic holy book. He is writing in the tweet above about Richard B. Spencer, the neo-Nazi, with whom I am often confused because of the similarity of our names. (Yes, “neo-Nazi”: he was quite concerned in our own interaction to establish that I was a secret Jew who had changed my name and was hiding my true identity, and it became clear during our unpleasant interaction that his is an idolatry of race and blood quite difficult to distinguish from 20th-century European National Socialism, transferred mutatis mutandis to 21st-century America.) Some Left-fascist punched Richard Spencer Friday in Washington, DC, and many mainstream Leftists such as Werleman are not just applauding, but calling for more.
And who could object, right? After all, Richard Spencer is a Nazi, right? He had it coming, right? The New York Times wrote about this question, and included in its story tweets saying, “Who said punching Nazis is wrong? Punching Nazis is the most ‘Murican thing one can do. Captain America does it!” and “If you’re having a conversation about whether or not it’s okay to punch a Nazi, you’re having the wrong conversation.”
Very well. Everyone can agree that Nazis are evil, and so it’s open season on them, right? That’s what Werleman is calling for. There’s just one catch. What if Werleman, or other Leftists like him, decide to broaden the category of those who ought to be made “afraid again”? What if Werleman or other Leftists decide that violence is justified not just against neo-Nazis, but against those who are tougher on the Qur’an and Islam than he is (you know, “racist” “Islamophobes”), or Trump supporters, or some other group they consider morally reprehensible?
The American (and European) Left, as I have noted for years, is growing more authoritarian and thuggish by the day. There is the refusal to discuss or debate, the demonization of all opposition, threats against opponents (direct or indirect, i.e. Georgetown University thug Nathan Lean repeatedly publishing what he thought was my address on Twitter, in an obvious attempt to alert jihadis to my whereabouts and/or frighten me into silence), and now open calls for violence against those whom they hate. Richard B. Spencer’s views are vile. That is not in dispute. But once one accepts the proposition that those with vile views can and should be brutalized, one has opened the door to a more virulent strain of neo-Nazism than Richard B. represents. CJ Werleman, in the final analysis, by calling for violence against his political opponents (something that the Nazis trafficked in regularly and with great relish), has revealed himself to be more of a neo-Nazi than Richard B. Spencer could ever dream of being.