Re: Argument vs oppression, and the Pyrrhic victory.
"that the right to free speech is being unfairly removed"
He was and still is free to say anything. His right to free speech has not been taken way. But what he never had was a right to speech without consequence. People are free to take action - within the law - in legitimate protest, through boycotts, against anyone who says something they don't like.
"Eich did not make a massive donation to the Klan, he made a small donation in a legal and democratic process"
To a cause that sought to suppress the rights of others. But yes that's legal and democratic. But so too is a protest response.
"He was well within his legal rights to do so, it was not an illegal action nor a hate crime"
Neither was boycotting his company and getting him fired from his job.
You can say is it was mean of those protesters to get him fired, which is what I think has everyone riled up. Because as an individual we empathize with him for being forced out his job by a nameless mob of protesters. So by all means argue it was mean to do this, but not that it was a violation of his rights.
"Would it not have been a bigger victory to have someone in Eich's position partake in a calm and open public discussion, to have exposed the actual reasons for his donation and his underlying beliefs, and to have won the argument by virtue of intelligence? Or is it just a lot easier and more fun to reach for the hate hammer?"
You could similarly wonder why did Eich donate to a group that seeks to prevent gays from marrying through campaigning? Would it not have been better for him to "partake in a calm and open public discussion and to have won the argument by virtue of intelligence"?