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Originally Posted by SebC
Not when bigotry is assessed through victim impact. You can only defend yourself with reason when you're being judged with reason. The accusation itself is toxic.
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I don't know what to tell you. I don't feel like my boundaries of discourse or discussion are chilled or restrained currently. I fully expect to have to defend my views if challenged. If I'm able to then great. If I'm not able to, then back to the drawing board. I'm not embarassed or ashamed to admit that I've had to reassesss and chamge positions in the past that I came to understand were based on steroetypes or the attribution of arbitrary characteristics. Indeed, I'm proud of it.
For example, as part of my career, I regularly defend my employer against claims of discrimination, both in employment and in the provision of public services. Sometimes that requires me to take unsympathetic positions or make potentially ruthless or insensitive arguments. But I always satisfy myself that I can defend those arguments and positions in an evidence-based and logical, reasoned way. If I can't, I don't make those arguments.
I don't particularly care if people label me as a bigot if that accusation isn't reasonable or credible. C'est la vie.
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There are a multitude of crimes I would hate to be accused of, even if I had not comitted them.
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Same with me but that doesn't mean I'm going to hide in my house. I say and do what I think is moral and legal (most of the time) and if'm accused of a crime I didn't commit, I will zealously defend myself. That's life in a modern democratic society.