Originally posted by surferboy+Oct 20 2005, 10:32 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(surferboy @ Oct 20 2005, 10:32 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Taking something out on someone else for the actions of another is wrong.
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No way I could possibly agree more. I was not "wound up" from a different thread.
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So what if someone has a racist view? Are they not entitled to that view?
It's just that the only problem that I've found on this site is almost the opposite of yours, there is a group of 'liberal' thinkers who seem to go mental if you dare suggest anything other than sitting round a camp fire singing songs of peace together
I have found that the people on here who make posts about peace and understanding get the most dismissive about people who think otherwise. Don't they realise how hypocritical they are?
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Yes, someone
is entitled to a racist view. They are just not entitled to use that view as justification for causing harm to another. That touches on an issue I have big problems with - people who confuse "freedom of speech" with "freedom of action." But that is another topic for another thread.
Most of us "liberal thinkers" don't go mental if you dare to suggest anything other than the campfire songs... my point, that almost no one seems to get, is that you are entitled to your views, as long as they only have effects on you, and only you. I'm not talking about people who are so easily offended that they get bent if they
hear something that they
interpret as offensive. Some poor, bitter, twisted people spend their LIVES looking for things to be offended about. (My personal favorite example is the Southwest Airlines flight, running a bit behind... the flight attendant, during boarding, announces over the PA "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe, grab a seat, it's time to go!" and suddenly there is a discrimination lawsuit.)
It is entirely different to hold certain views, go to a klan meeting, and burn a cross in someone's yard, claiming it is your "right to free speech." Or beating up someone you suspect of being homosexual. Views are fine, actions often are not. All I am saying is that each person should be responsible and accountable for their own actions. What you do in the privacy of your own home, among consenting adults, is not one else's business. It is your soverign right. And no one has the right or authority to regulate what you do in the privacy of your own home, among consenting adults, regardless of their views of what you do.
I have not been a member as long as surferboy, so I can't really comment on how the board has changed. There are many members with whom I have stimulating conversations, some who just irritate me, and others I just ignore. It's up to me to decide - other people can only make you unhappy if you allow them to.
