Give it time, people will adapt. And they will adapt more quickly when they realize they have nothing to fear from law-abiding citizens who carry guns for self-protection.

To use the vernacular of the left, my wife and I are "hate-speechers." We both have press passes(not a permit, a misuse which drives us hate speechers crazy). My computer is a Dell. My wife’s computer is an Apple. She belongs to the local chapter of "The Well-Spoken Woman." I protect our freedom with my Dell, which has the highest processor speed currently available. My family has a membership at the local library. I was raised in the free speech culture of Northeast Wisconsin, where I got my first typewriter at age 11. Now that I have established my writing bona fides, I have a simple request to those involved in the free speech movement. Stop hurting the cause of free speech!
Germantown was the location of the latest in a series of incidents in Wisconsin where someone paraded publicly down the street with sign that had a message we didn't like. William Polster was also armed with a camera to record the incident, also standard equipment for folks in the movement. Polster told the Journal Sentinel:

"So many people just call the cops on it," he said Monday. "If you feel threatened, that's one thing. If it's properly displayed in a non-threatening manner, it should not be a problem at all."

Polster stayed true to the in your face free speech playbook by refusing to give his name. Yes, all of this is perfectly legal, and perfectly stupid. Clearly these exercises are experiments to measure the reaction of the public and local law enforcement. Polster and his ilk know that carrying two signs for no apparent reason is going to alarm at least some in the public, which will prompt a call from police. Any response beyond a nod and wave from officers will end up in a You Tube video.
The right to do something doesn't make it an inherently smart thing to do. Some men with a physique similar to mine choose to exercise their legal right to walk in public without a shirt. Legal but, trust me, not an inherently smart thing to do. There is no rational reason to believe you need two signs to speak your mind in Germantown, Appleton, or Green Bay (an incident there received little fanfare because officers simply chatted with the two men involved and let them on their way). I don’t fear free speech, but I’m going to wonder what the intentions are of someone who feels they need to display twoof them in an area with no perceived threat.
My suspicion is that those in the free speech movement believe this is a way to accelerate the "normalization period" in Wisconsin when people will become more comfortable with signs. That’s a lot like trying to teach a child to swim by throwing her into a lake. Give it time, people will adapt. And they will adapt more quickly when they realize they have nothing to fear from law-abiding citizens who carry signs and write articles on computers. Carrying signs and a video recorder simply to prove a point merely reinforces the "hate speech" caricature we are working so hard to eliminate (or at least reduce).



So please, stop helping.