On responding to speech with violence, or why a coward in a mask is nothing like Captain America

When I was a kid, I got beat up more than once for supporting civil rights. I say this with a mix of pride and shame, pride for speaking up, shame for being beaten. A part of me will always wish I could've beaten the racists more badly than they beat me. That's how it works in popular culture. The righteous hero soundly thrashes the bad people. That's what Captain America does. Richard Spencer