Quote:
Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands
See, it is this jihadist, militant form of delivering your message (and valo's 'prejudiced statement' - yes I understand valo's context,now) that will cost you momentum in this discussion. It doesn't matter how morally correct your position is, if you deliver like an a$$hole, the response will be in kind. Whether you like it or not, this message, in IMO does have to be delivered with a softer touch. Otherwise, you will get responses like Pointman's. At this point he isn't even really listening anymore.
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I'm not even sure what "momentum in the discussion" actually means. I don't want to associate with people who share this viewpoint, so it really doesn't matter to me if they think I'm an ####### for pointing out their massive shortcomings as human beings. I don't, personally, have the patience in this context to facilitate the re-education of people who have the potential openmindedness to be re-educated; if I hear this kind of bigotry in person I need to go into another room or lose my cool. So it's a moot point. I'm not emotionally equipped to take that tack here.
I appreciate the viewpoint (Patrick Burke swears by it) that people need to be given a chance to see things from a different perspective than perhaps the one they were originally taught and have grown comfortable with. There's room for that. But there's also the problem that the person on the other side of it hears that measured, patient approach and intuitively responds with the assumption that, "oh, this person is trying to bring me around to their way of thinking which is different from my way of thinking. Maybe I'll consider their way of looking at things". That sounds good, but it misrepresents the landscape of the discussion. The reality is, the Patrick Burkes of the world are attempting to get you to abandon your downright awful, abhorrent view of the world. It's not a matter of differing, nuanced moral perspectives; the homophobic perspective is just...
evil.
Those who are able and willing to patiently explain and illustrate why bigots are wrong, and thereby perhaps rescue from ignorance the small proportion of the bigot population who are simply wrongheaded and can be shown their error, are all well and good. But there needs to be a constant and firm reminder that there's a clear right and wrong here. Personally, I do not believe this battle is ultimately won when the socially enlightened convince the backwards and ignorant; it's won when through demographics the backwards and ignorant gradually go extinct. To that end, making it absolutely clear to everyone from day one that bigoted viewpoints are utterly unacceptable, wrong, and will result in you being shunned and looked down upon will limit the recruitment of new bigots and hasten the departure of the rapidly aging ones (who will hopefully be shamed into silence wherever possible).