A quick lesson in bigotry and tolerance
May. 1st, 2009 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_makerWhile not every adult using this journal system is part of the educational staff, I felt a few recent comments deserved looking over.
First, assume you came across a message with this basic content:
Mutants are scum. Every one of them. We don't need them, and the moment one steps out of line we have every right to visit physical violence and assault on them, and be applauded for it. After all, just because a few are bad, that's obviously reflective of the whole.
Most of you - being reasonably rational and intelligent people - would dismiss this as a raving lunatic racist, akin to your average Friends of Humanity protestor or internet troll.
But replace the term "Mutants" with "Humans". Imagine someone - let's say someone on this journal system - was espousing hatred and violence towards humans. After all, there's a lot of them out there who hate us, right? And they discriminate against us in ways both obvious and subtle. So that must mean it's okay to hate all of them, right?
Wrong.
It's wrong, and every single one of us with a functioning brain stem knows it.
Further distillation: replace the subject with, say, "Men".
Oh, then it becomes a valid complaint? Something to be ignored or waved off? No. It's bigotry and hatred all the same. There's a line between valid emotional venting and outright hate speech, and lately it's not only been crossed, but crossed in a manner akin to the Germany/Belgium border in 1914.
To the students: A lot of you have had direct interaction with jerks, and discrimination, and abuse, and hatred. But you haven't turned around and become that kind of hate-fueled monster yourself. That kind of self-control and enlightenment is to be commended. For whatever stumbling blocks you all might encounter as individuals, none of you have become the kind of reactive bigots that give humanity a reason to hate and fear mutants.
To Jennie: You, however, have achieved EPIC FAIL at common decency and rational thought. Maybe the common denominator in all your failed relationships is you.
First, assume you came across a message with this basic content:
Mutants are scum. Every one of them. We don't need them, and the moment one steps out of line we have every right to visit physical violence and assault on them, and be applauded for it. After all, just because a few are bad, that's obviously reflective of the whole.
Most of you - being reasonably rational and intelligent people - would dismiss this as a raving lunatic racist, akin to your average Friends of Humanity protestor or internet troll.
But replace the term "Mutants" with "Humans". Imagine someone - let's say someone on this journal system - was espousing hatred and violence towards humans. After all, there's a lot of them out there who hate us, right? And they discriminate against us in ways both obvious and subtle. So that must mean it's okay to hate all of them, right?
Wrong.
It's wrong, and every single one of us with a functioning brain stem knows it.
Further distillation: replace the subject with, say, "Men".
Oh, then it becomes a valid complaint? Something to be ignored or waved off? No. It's bigotry and hatred all the same. There's a line between valid emotional venting and outright hate speech, and lately it's not only been crossed, but crossed in a manner akin to the Germany/Belgium border in 1914.
To the students: A lot of you have had direct interaction with jerks, and discrimination, and abuse, and hatred. But you haven't turned around and become that kind of hate-fueled monster yourself. That kind of self-control and enlightenment is to be commended. For whatever stumbling blocks you all might encounter as individuals, none of you have become the kind of reactive bigots that give humanity a reason to hate and fear mutants.
To Jennie: You, however, have achieved EPIC FAIL at common decency and rational thought. Maybe the common denominator in all your failed relationships is you.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 12:02 am (UTC)Um, at least we got to beat up some Nazis?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 12:12 am (UTC)Come to Finnegans. I'll buy you a drink as a thank you for covering my arse.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 12:14 am (UTC)Ooh, free drinks. Let me just get my jacket. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-02 12:23 am (UTC)