Since I have an "indirect dog in this fight", I will recuse myself. However I have more of a "direct dog in this fight", which provides more bias I'm certain, making my recusal even more necessary. However I will say this,
@Laufen you bring up a lot of great points, many weighted with a lot of assumptions and mis-aligned understanding, but in no way does anyone in their right mind believe that ANTIFA, the group that wear all black, waving a communist flag, spouting a socialist agenda, using violence to spread fear and has even been labeled as a domestic terrorist organization is the "good guys". This ad depicts 4 veterans standing armed but peacefully (their not pointing their weapons at anyone) against an angry mod of violent protesters.
The advertising is meant to create dialogue, it's meant to be discussed, it's meant to get national attention, it's meant to show the support Spike's and Pipe Hitters Union has for a peaceful free America where no one's speech is being squashed (which has happened by ANTIFA at many events, including Ben Shapiro's event at Berkley). Using those metrics, the ad was a success. The only people that has shown any opposition to the ad were those that are not in the target demographic (those individuals that would never be a Spikes or PHU customer) or those looking to be argumentative and make an argument where there is none just to show a liberal opposition. Spike's and PHU would defend your right of free speech regardless if they agreed with it. It's when a group becomes violent and shuts down the free speech of others, is when problems arise.
Anyway, I'll recuse myself from this point forward. I thought I'd share this ad and the fake news article from Newsweek, the one from Vice news was even worse...they called the Spike's Snowflake lower a "bump stock used in the mass killings in Los Vegas" - they couldn't be further from the truth. #FakeNews
Let's all play nice...we can have disagreements without butthurt and without insults. We're a community, doesn't mean we have to agree with each other on everything...that would be a cult.