I really don't think that you can possibly be saying this in good faith without using those effected negatively by the war on drugs as human shields.
The war on drugs directly involves police officers planting drugs on the poor, especially people of color, typically black or hispanic individuals (at least, for the US's War on Drugs which is the only one I'm familiar with). They then get put in jail and are put to work. It's using the already disenfranchised as free slave labor, basically.
Punishing someone to set the example that a society doesn't tolerate Nazis is in no way similar, especially as in this case it seems this guy wasn't particularly poor.
My entire point is that you're expecting a government that is not applying rights fairly and consistently is going to somehow apply exceptions to those rights fairly and consistently. AKA, this law would get used to fuck with minorities and poor people, because Donald Fucking Trump and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions are the people enforcing it.
What "same people"? Whose "communities"? How do you know the background of the people siding with the government in this thread? You're making some borderline racist assumptions about the people in this thread who have no problem with this guy being prosecuted for his hate speech.
So, we should do nothing, when the current reality sees just one side pushing hate and the other side practically defenseless because equivocating "liberals" are worried that the laws could be turned against causes they really don't care about in the first place.
A) Generally speaking, my understanding is that we don't pull receipts from other threads. I mean, I'm an indian guy who grew up in rural IL and now lives in Seattle, and this is quite easily searchable. In a forum with years of history (both pre Era and now), people are generally open about where they are from? If you want the specifics, the war on drugs was designed to fuck anyone that wasn't white middle or upper class americans. And I feel reasonably safe in saying that many of the progressives on these boards do not fall into that category. (myself included)
But hey, points for calling me racist because I dared point out that oppressed communities (poor, black, latino, refugees, asians, LGBT, etc) that were fucked by the war on drugs (because it was a power play by scared white people against everyone they wanted to try to fuck, thanks Nixon) might think twice about advocating for poorly defined, open ended "my feelings were hurt" laws that might, just might, get abused the same way drug laws were, because the same people and the same system is in charge?
B) HE'S NOT BEING PROSECUTED FOR HATE SPEECH, THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT OF THOSE OF US FREAKING OUT.
C) No. Some of us didn't have the privilege of growing up in a city or suburb or state that actually aligned with our political views. So, no, those of us who are "worried" aren't worried because of some theoretical threat. We're worried because everyone here is operating in such a bubble that they find it unfathomable that these laws might get misused in areas that aren't aligned with your political views (or believing you have a right to exist) to oppress people. You don't think Governor Mike Pence isn't going to claim that advocating for gay rights is "offensive"? We're worried because we have grown up getting this shit used against us. People are arguing about "we can't take any chances" when that was the exact justification used to ship brown people to Gitmo, and that was in our recent lifetimes.
EDIT: Honestly, after 900 posts, you can't figure out that he's not being prosecuted for hate speech, I have to believe you are not arguing in good faith. Like, if the dude you said was defending racism happened to be someone with any kind of influence, they could convict you with the same crime. That's why it's friggin terrifying.
I'm done repeating myself over and over. This terrifies me because people are advocating that the government defines what "offensive" is and have the power to completely ruin someone life over it. How many musicians would have been arrested by now for "offensive" content? How many authors? How many video games?
If you want to continue discussing - my inbox is open.