Real Headline, 2017: "Multiple Arrests After Fight Inside Berkeley 'Empathy Tent'"

So, what the hell is an Empathy Tent?

I think the idea is that an Empathy Tent is where you go to have a civil conversation with people you disagree with. As opposed to just screaming at them from a picket line, you go in the tent, hear them out, "see their humanity," etc.

If you can get past the part that this is gay AF, it's not a bad idea. Okay, it is a bad idea. It's just not among the worst ideas coming out of Berkeley lately.

So how did Berkeley, city that birthed the Free Speech Movement, fare when it attempted to have some free speech between citizens?

Well the headline already spoiled it.

The tent was set up by a lefty.

Edwin Fulch sat nearby in what he calls his “empathy tent,” where he’s been preaching the gospel of mediation and understanding since Occupy Wall Street protests rocked the country. It’s the reason he brought Gibson and a liberal documentarian named Rod Webber into the tent.

Who was responsible for the fight? I can't tell based on media accounts, which is... suggestive.

But here are some data points:

One of the four arrested was the middle school teacher who supports By Any Means Necessary, Yvonne Farlacca, who's been arrested for inciting a riot at a July "protest."

Another arrestee looks like this:

So I really can't tell these people's politics.

More: From Lizzy, the Falarca Files.

posted by Ace at 02:52 PM

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