LGBT
In reply to the discussion: "Gays can't be trusted with children" [View all]Fearless
(18,421 posts)It is evident in H&M and here in LGBT.
I believe that discussion would be helpful. Constructive discussion.
What I see, IMHO, isn't discussion. It is anger. Anger at a DUer, anger at a phrase, etc. Is the anger justified? Yes. Should it be silenced? No, of course not. But is it constructive? No. It does not create a solution to the problem. IMHO it exacerbates the problem.
What I see is a lot of people being very angry about something that happened, and voicing that anger. I'm sure that's helpful to each individual person, to have their voice, and speak out against a statement. But again, it doesn't actually solve the problem.
Had we all stood up in one voice and said... This phrase is unacceptable, regardless of where it comes from. It is universally unacceptable. Here is why it is unacceptable. Here is why it is detrimental. And most importantly... Here is what we can do to combat it. (Yelling about it, isn't combating it. It is justifying it in the minds of those who speak it. They see us name calling and shouting and point and say... see told you so... these LGBTers are terrible people... and the rest of the homophobes nod in agreement.) That, I think would have been appropriate. Instead we have call-outs and rage.
So what can we do to combat it? We can talk about it. Talk. Not rant. Not speak with anger. Talk. Not talk about someone, but talk about an issue.
Anger has it's place and that place is when civilized discussion has failed. Not before it's attempted.
All of this is in my opinion only. Maybe surprisingly, but as a host I wouldn't lock this thread. I don't think it's against SOP. I just think it's not helping our cause to use anger first instead of reason.