Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

The cultural trend (imo) has been toward acceptance with things such as LGBT, race, hobby, etc. Lately it seems that if someone voices his/her prejudice against another group, s/he is met with extreme negativity.

I personally think that people should be able to voice their opinions even if that opinion is racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.

So what do you think? Does voicing those opinions encourage discrimination on others and should not be allowed or is suppressing those opinions a form of discrimination?

It's Hypocritical. That's all that it is.

The can voice their opinions, and we can voice our opinion of their opinion. Freedom of Speech has never been freedom from criticism. Saying that people should be allowed to post racist comments but people can't call them out on it, is what's hypocritical.

If you are talking about banning people for posting racist or homophobic opinions, sites have the right to ban you for not following rules. Freedom of Speech only protects you from legal action, private organizations can shut you up anytime they want. Many sites don't allow racism and such due to the shitstorms they cause. Not only that, but the speech allowed in sites reflect the site itself. If you were to allow racism in KYM, it would send the message that KYM has no problem with racism.

But in no case is banning people based on their opinion discrimination. Treating people differently based on status outside the individuals control is not the same as treating people differently based on what they choose to believe. If someone chooses to be an asshole, it's not discrimination to treat them like an asshole, and if someone is racist, it's not discrimination to treat them like a racist.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's a difference between tolerating things that people can't control and do no harm to anyone (e.g. homosexuality, race) and tolerating things that people can control and demonstrably do harm (e.g. homophobia, racism). You can be for the former and against the latter, and there's no hypocrisy here, because they're different things. Treating them as the same when they clearly aren't is just a smokescreen to avoid having to deal with the real issues.

That's not to say I think people who discriminate against people for things they can't control and do no harm to anyone shouldn't be able to hold or voice those views (though no one should be obligated to listen or publish said views), but they have to live with the consequences of what they choose to say, which includes people criticising them and thinking they're acting like a dick.

Exactly what Bork said. They have a right to say their dumb shit and I have a right to tell them they're a dumbass and they should go shove their opinion up their own asshole and never show it to anyone again.

And like Twee said as well these opinions are usually gery harmful. Someone saying "maybe we should gas all the minorities" isn't exactly harmless. Imagine if someone like that got any power over others. And just on the mental and psychological scale it is pretty harmful.