r/Snorkblot • u/LordJim11 • Aug 08 '26
History A proud moment in British History.
Daily Herald, Saturday, 6 August, 1938.
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u/Forgotmypassword6861 Aug 08 '26
That's how you deal with fascists
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Aug 09 '26
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u/BedrockHopper Aug 09 '26
They'd probably like that
What about those dimwits makes you think of them as nerds??? Can't be too bright if they support fascism surely!
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Aug 09 '26
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u/Forgotmypassword6861 Aug 09 '26
I'm a 37 year old fire department paramedic. I'm a civil servant. I've devoted my life to helping the weak and the wounded. What the fuck do you do?
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u/Cosmic_Archaeologist Aug 09 '26
So wanting to prevent the spread of violent authoritarianism is now a big bad? Don’t you guys have wet dreams about doing worse to “the commies”?
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Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Snorkblot-ModTeam Aug 09 '26
Please keep the discussion civil. You can have heated discussions, but avoid personal attacks, slurs, antagonizing others or name calling. Discuss the subject, not the person.
r/Snorkblot's moderator team
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u/Paghk_the_Stupendous Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Denying others options based on your preferences sounds an awful lot like a word you don't seem to like.
Edit: First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Pastor Martin Niemöller
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u/unfinishedtoast3 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Freedom of speech only protects you from the government. The Constitution is a pact between the citizens and the State, a contract out lining what the State can and cannot do. It is not a contract between private citizens and other private citizens. As a private citizen, I absolutely can tell you to shut the fuck up and get out of the area.
In this case, the citizens , not the government rose up and ended fascists being public nuisance
That is absolutely freedom, take a civics class.
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u/NoAge9497 Aug 08 '26
Thanks for pointing this out, especially the opening paragraph. It's what the vast majority cannot wrap their heads around. 👏
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u/voluotuousaardvark Aug 08 '26
Ffs everyday theres some prat that thinks freedom of speech means freedom to violate others rights to be free from hate speech. Fucking clueless.
Hope you meet a sockful of sand too
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u/powderhound522 Aug 08 '26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
The paradox of tolerance is a philosophical concept suggesting that if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance, thereby undermining the very principle of tolerance. This paradox was articulated by philosopher Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), where he argued that
a truly tolerant society must retain the right to deny tolerance to those who promote intolerance.
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u/Ichaserabbits Aug 08 '26
Freedom of speech protects you from the government censoring your speech. It does not protect you from the consequences amongst your peers.
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u/Kittkatt598 Aug 08 '26
Freedom of speech means the government cannot arrest you for speaking your mind, not that you're free from consequences from the individuals around you for having a shitty opinion that is harmful to society. The Fascists are legally free to say what they want but if EVERYONE around them takes offence then hell yeah they'll be run out of the area they're in! They just won't be arrested for their speech.
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u/SpotCreepy4570 Aug 08 '26
You are so right, that beach superintendent should have never tried to stifle those boys freedom of speech and they wouldn't of had to resort to violence to defend it.
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u/TerrapinTribe Aug 08 '26
Freedom of speech just means the government can’t punish you for your speech.
It does not, and has never, meant that other people have to tolerate your speech. Quite the opposite.
My freedom of speech means that I can think you’re a fucking no good low life racist piece of shit for things you say. My freedom of speech means an entire community can and should shun people for fascist, racist, and sexist views. My freedom of speech means I can yell over bigot’s freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech just means the government can’t retaliate against you. Freedom of speech is not guarantee of an audience. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean anyone has to listen to you.
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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 Aug 08 '26
Fucking fascist lovers like you need to be taught about the Paradox of intolerance.
This is also my country, Britain. We have Freedom of Expression here, not Freedom of speech.
What that means is you can spout your fascist shit but then expect the consequences of your actions. Fascists do not DESERVE to spout their hatred. Hatred like them is not freedom of speech it is saying they want to kill you because you are inferior to them and you say "oh yes, that sounds good, carry on while I lick your boots Mr Fascist.
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u/Bloodless-Cut Aug 08 '26
A British tar is a soaring soul As free as a mountain bird His energetic fist Should be ever ready to resist A dictatorial word.
His nose should pant, And his lip should curl, His cheeks should flame, And his brow should furl, His bosom should heave, And his heart should glow, And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow.
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u/ExtremlyFastLinoone Aug 08 '26
Freedom of speech just means the goverment cant do this to you. A citizen mob on the other hand!
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u/BillCarson12799 Aug 08 '26
You have a right to speak. You don’t have a right for people to listen to you. They can use their freedom of speech to tell you to fuck off.
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u/punksmostlydead Aug 08 '26
It just reeaallyy chaps you assholes that you can't use slurs anymore, doesn't it?
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u/AlertedCoyote Aug 08 '26
Some opinions are too monstrous to exist. Fascists shouldn't have gotten past the 1940s as a movement.
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u/King_Six_of_Things Aug 08 '26
For too long we have tolerated the intolerable, and now the intolerable are throwing Nazi salutes in the street and getting elected. Fuck them and fuck your "free speech".
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u/Awkwardukulele Aug 09 '26
Notice how you quote a poem about how Nazi’s are bad and not stopping them is bad to say that…stopping Nazi’s is bad.
Fascists just be saying shit
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u/RampantJellyfish Aug 08 '26
I believe there is legal precedence for this in the case "fucked around vs found out"
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u/Anubisrapture Aug 08 '26
Fascism isn't an " opinion others don't like" it's dangerous , violent , and citizens absolutely have the RIGHT to fight it wherever it is found!!!
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u/BugRevolution Aug 09 '26
You realize the fascist in question would end up in jail throughout the war just a few years later, given he was supportive of the ideology of an enemy to Britain?
I'm glad Britain didn't decide to join the fascists in WWII.
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u/BreakfastAdept9462 Aug 09 '26
How fucking dare you use Niemoller's poem to defend a fascist, utterly shameless
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u/FaeLei42 Aug 09 '26
Using “First They Came” to defend fascists has to be the most incredibly thoughtless and ironic thing I’ve ever seen.
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u/i_AM_A-ShArk Aug 09 '26
Using an anti fascist poem to argue against fighting fascists is deeply ironic
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u/Comprehensive_Cow_13 Aug 09 '26
You are quoting a piece from 1946 about NOT standing up to fascists.
You have to know the history of this if you can quote it. Surely.
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u/Kooky-Blueberry-5352 Aug 08 '26
Wow how deep. It's almost like the paradox of tolerance describes why that's not true.
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u/Killacreeper Aug 09 '26
Who do you think the "they" was here, genius?
And what do you think the people were doing rather than "speaking out"?
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u/Worried-Pick4848 Aug 08 '26
And the best part is, no one but a few Fascists got hurt
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u/above_average_magic Aug 08 '26
Well, poor Mr. England also got a bit hurt, but that's what being tolerant of fascists can do, isn't it?
Quite.
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u/DeletedUsernameHere Aug 08 '26
When you break bread with three Nazis, there's not three Nazis at the table, there's four.
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u/MakeSomeDrinks Aug 09 '26
Great saying.
What do you call 11 Nazis and their non Nazi friend at a table? A dozen Nazis
How long should they stay? 0 minutes, before you have yourself a Nazi hangout
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u/Danson_the_47th Aug 08 '26
It doesn’t say he was a fascist, just someone in charge of keeping the peace on the beach, and was the local Justice of the Peace.
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u/ParmigianoMan Aug 08 '26
Well, I do hope the sock wasn’t damaged. That would have been unfortunate.
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u/CADmonkeez Aug 08 '26
It's the "filled the loud speaker equipment with sand" that always tickled me the most.
Truly inspired.
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u/your_mum_1705 Aug 08 '26
Loudspeakers were like gold dust in the 30s, they would have been EXPENSIVE
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u/T1Demon Aug 08 '26
“A sock filled with sand caught him behind the ear”
That’s what I’m talking about
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u/tigalicious Aug 08 '26
Imagine how that person felt, strutting home with one sock on
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u/Kaffe-Mumriken Aug 08 '26
If you bring socks to the beach, you know you might lose them one way or another
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u/N0tM4d Aug 08 '26
I'm bringing socks every time now. Never know when you'll have to sling a sand stocking at a fascist!
I know there's Antifa, but Sand Socks would be a cool anti-fascist movement. Or band. Maybe collaborate with Green Day?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 Aug 08 '26
Jesus made a whip out of cords on the spot; "someone" there made a cudgel from a sock and the beach sand.
Both beat the fuck out of evil assholes.
Gotta love it.
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u/Danson_the_47th Aug 08 '26
It doesn’t say he was a fascist, just someone in charge of keeping the peace on the beach, and was the local Justice of the Peace.
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u/JadedScience9411 Aug 08 '26
Literally the first line.
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u/Danson_the_47th Aug 08 '26
Mr. England is a local magistrate. Mr Saunders is the Fascist. Read it again yourself
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u/tecate_papi Aug 08 '26
I remember in the early-00s, there was this piece in the Guardian where they were talking to this older fella about his life and he was saying that one of the proudest moments in his life was when Oswald Mosley and his band of fascists marched through this guy's neighbourhood, so he, as a child, and the rest of their neighbourhood threw stuff out of their windows at the fascists and chased them out of the neighbourhood. It was a good reminder that you really don't have to treat evil people with respect. They don't deserve it.
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u/Not_invented-Here Aug 08 '26
The battle of cable street?
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u/tecate_papi Aug 08 '26
Maybe, but I don't recall. I read it in the early 00s but the only Guardian pieces I could find were about the Battle of Cable Street from 2016.
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u/Forgotmypassword6861 Aug 08 '26
To the fascist and fascist defenders in this thread: you all have bold words for people potentially in range of a sand sock
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u/Firm-Rip-2133 Aug 08 '26
Arthur England is the most English name ever.
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u/socks Aug 08 '26
Fun fact: In early modern Europe, "New Christians" who were required to convert from Judaism to Christianity or leave country would often change their Jewish names to the names of their city-states, cities, towns, or countries. Many of those names were not former Jewish names, but some of them were.
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u/GSilky Aug 08 '26
When did we stop hitting politicians with socks filled with various items? That seems like a good tradition to revive.
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u/PyroChild221 Aug 08 '26
When they started having armed guards
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u/ttystikk Aug 08 '26
The Fascists are intolerant of everyone else.
It is time to be intolerant of Fascists in precisely the same way.
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u/SKRS421 Aug 08 '26
it makes bigots seeth and throw a tantrum, "hypocrisy" being their big cry. but this what we need to do and throw out civility pollitics.
the "tolerance paradox", to truly be a tolerant society we need to be intolerant towards the intolerance of bigotry & hate.
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u/ttystikk Aug 09 '26
Precisely.
The Fascists think that they can always escalate to a huge level of violence to get what they want irrespective of the needs and desires of others or even the majority.
Sometimes being civilized means stepping up to the level of force necessary to stop such people who threaten our society and in the age of nuclear weapons, all of humanity.
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u/claymore2711 Aug 08 '26
Quite the change. Our current POtuS says there are good people on both sides.
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u/Yargon_Kerman Aug 08 '26
No he doesn't...
He says there are good people on one side, and left wing extremist terrorists on the other.
He full on is a nazi though so that's no surprise.
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u/Brief-Equal4676 Aug 08 '26
That was 8 years ago. Now, he'd probably say there aren't any good people that aren't fascists.
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u/Briaboo2008 Aug 08 '26
And a sock filled with sand caught him behind the ear… so very neutral as if the sock itself did it. lol
But seriously they knew what was up
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u/Inside7shadows Aug 09 '26
Well, no one on the beach threw the sock, they was all buying ice cream with me at the time.
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u/Passiveresistance Aug 08 '26
“A sock filled with sand caught him behind the ear”
As if the sock was sentient, or just happened to be occupying the same physical space as his head on accident. I love the way they phrased that. Fascists should get the sock treatment wherever they go.
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u/ExtraCr1spyKernal Aug 08 '26
No no, it was phrased exactly right because not a single person saw anybody holding it 🤣
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u/Diplomatic_Gunboats Aug 08 '26
'A sock filled with sand hit him behind the ear'...
...Ah I remember making home-made blackjacks in my youth too. Fun for everyone.
Lucky it wasnt a half-brick.
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u/JL_MacConnor Aug 08 '26
"What a Morpork citizen liked to have on his side in a fight was odds of about twenty to one, but failing that a sockful of half-brick and a dark alley to lurk in was generally considered a better bet than any two magic swords you cared to name."
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u/kifflington Aug 09 '26
A sockful of sand pretty much counts as a warning shot when you think how many stones there are on the average beach.
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u/easyjimi1974 Aug 08 '26
"In the sand battle that followed..." this is my new favorite way to start a sentence.
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u/Slartibartfast39 Aug 08 '26
I think I need to dig out my vuvuzela from the loft to carry around just in case
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u/Punkprof Aug 08 '26
So yes Popper’s problem of must we tolerate intolerance. The USA has a fetish fro free speech while most of the rest of the world recognises there should be limits on this. Holocaust denial, undermining election legitimacy, industrial scale lying, slander and defamation by a rapist president, etc. But what most of the world agrees on, and we actually had a series of scuffles 80 years ago about this, is fuck fascists. I’m not saying that the only good fascist is a dead fascist, because some of them could be dying slowly and painfully, so they are pretty good too.
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u/LinkBrecken Aug 08 '26
What's wild is sympathizing with this post now makes one in the US considered a terrorist by executive order. What unfortunate times we live in.
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u/freebiscuit2002 Aug 08 '26
Nice work there. Sand is an underappreciated medium to go and fuck stuff right up.
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u/Nicodemus888 Aug 08 '26
“I don’t like sand. It’s course and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”
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u/ImpatientHoneyBadger Aug 08 '26
...a sock full of sand caught him behind the ear.
Seems a bit much for a slightly officious beach superintendent; 3 or so years later that was a prescribed method for silently eliminating German sentries in occupied Europe.
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u/EqualPassenger4271 Aug 08 '26
Well done!! Keep the beaches, and our society, fascism free with this simple trick!!
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u/Final-Entertainer Aug 08 '26
Britain wasn't long out of ww2. Think these lads didn't want to see British Fascist movement's gain any traction. Powell and Moseley are 2 names that spring to mind. Hitler started as a street performer. Just a thought.
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u/commanderquill Aug 09 '26
We need more preteens who have no fear of career consequences doing shit like this. The bravery of the young will kickstart the overthinkers into action.
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u/Sarcasm_Llama Aug 08 '26
Those people would be arrested and charged with terrorism in the US today
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u/prez-scr00b Aug 08 '26
Honestly? More of this - and let's not stop at fascist speech, I could also absolutely get behind this for any asshole with a speaker at the beach. There are headphones, use them. Most of us don't want to listen to your music, or you trying to make your music louder than some other asshole's music.
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u/CpnJustice Aug 08 '26
And sadly fascism still overtook several European nations and nearly took the US. I don’t see such reactions to these fascist people today and that frightens me. What we will see happen in the next 10 years?
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u/Double_Distribution8 Aug 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Double_Distribution8 Aug 09 '26
WHAT?
Edit: I mentioned the guy being hit by a sock full of rocks and my comment was removed.
Freedom of Speech is dead here. This is fascism.
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Aug 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/LordJim11 Aug 09 '26
AI image detectors usually explain how it reached it's conclusion. Perhaps you could share that? When I ran it through one I got this result;
It's hard to say definitively if this image was generated or modified by AI.
However, the specific text and information contained within the image are entirely authentic and historically verified. This clipping documents a real event reported by the British newspaper the Daily Herald on August 6, 1938.
The image itself matches historical records and digital archives of the original report detailing how the local community of Weymouth successfully drove fascist speakers off the beach. While digital copies of old newspapers can sometimes be filtered or cleaned up online, the core content is a matter of genuine historical record rather than an AI-generated fabrication.
The event is mentioned by several sources but mostly referencing that specific newspaper report. However Robert Saunders was a "District Commander" of the BUF based in Weymouth and an active speaker. His letters and diaries are in the archives of Sheffield University, although not available on line. These include details of proposed speaking events on the sands involving both Saunders and Mosely.
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u/kifflington Aug 09 '26
All other comments aside, it's telling that the year after this happened, the Nazis started WW2.
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u/Spooksey1 Aug 09 '26
Ah the magistrate and superintendent is a fascist sympathiser, what a surprise!
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u/LordJim11 Aug 09 '26
Well, we only know that when faced with a fascist with a loud speaker and kids rattling tins he sided with the fascist. A local council beach superintendent is a very low level of authority and tends to attract the type of Jobsworth who automatically sides with the man in a suit over a bunch of urchins.
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u/B-Glasses Aug 08 '26
Couldn’t do it these days. They’d get a police escort to safety and the beach goers would be arrested
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u/MrVeazey Aug 08 '26
Do it anyway, I say.
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u/B-Glasses Aug 08 '26
Agree but I’m sure publications would take the poor fascist’s side. We wouldn’t see an article like this in print
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u/NamelessIII Aug 09 '26
Back when a fascist was actually a fascist and not just someone you disagreed with.
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u/ThinGold2115 Aug 08 '26
If comments here prove anything, majority of people can only bark on internet and wouldn't do a thing in real life. Same as they didn't do anything in USA.
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u/BigOlBahgeera Aug 08 '26
This is also how fascists treat those who disagree with their views, and other fascists praise it.
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u/MrVeazey Aug 08 '26
No, fascists don't start with booing and making noise. They start with their fists. Theirs is a fundamentally violent, dehumanizing ideology that sees other people as less human and worthy of abuse.
These kids were just trying to stop terrible people from saying terrible things in public. They didn't start by bum-rushing the stage and smashing the equipment; they tried to be nice about it but escalated when the fascists didn't get the message that they weren't wanted.-5
u/BigOlBahgeera Aug 08 '26
Yes they do start with booing and noise, that's how Hitler secretly built his army with brown coats. Read history for once. Fascist love using violence to scare people away, violence isn't the answer you fascist
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u/MrVeazey Aug 08 '26
They started with bar fights, dummy. And the brown shirts were the Nazis. The brown coats are a made-up faction from the TV show Firefly.
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u/SnakeMommy888 Aug 09 '26
No one knows what fascism means anymore
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u/LordJim11 Aug 09 '26
Some might be over eager to use the word, but I assure you very many people know exactly what it means and how it manifests and spreads.
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u/NotGonnaArgueFriend Aug 08 '26
Judging age by the typeface, most “anti-fascist” Redditors would consider most of the 5,000 discussed here to be “fascists” themselves, if they held typical English views of the time.
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u/gielbondhu Aug 08 '26
And just 60 years later those boys voted for brexit
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u/lerjj Aug 08 '26
Brexit vote was 78 years after this, so i think it's pretty safe to assume they weren't alive during the Brexit vote.
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