[okcchief]

Originally Posted by mcan

I agree with you in that people can be a little righteously indignant when something "offends" them. That said, I think that society has the duty to slap people on the wrist when they have horrible ideas. Like if a local politician wants to institute a "touch the stove a lot" policy. Under this new law, anyone passing by a hot stove must touch it to prove their loyalty to the God of the Stairs, or pay a fine. With the money raised from the fines, we will build a homeless shelter.

Now, I think we would all be within our rights to call this man an idiot. Probably a good dude. I mean, he wants to build a homeless shelter, but his ideas are... Well, horrible.

Same thing with bigotry. No matter how good of a dude this guy might be, THIS particular thing he said was pretty outrageous and all too familiar, and probably lies dormant and undisclosed in the hearts and minds of many... By calling this man out, and embarrassing him, in fact slapping the label "bigot" on him for a bit, we can get all of those who harbor these idiotic ideas to rethink. And know just exactly where their less than social intuitions stand in the marketplace of ideas.

Fair enough.