Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The problem with censoring bigotry is that it creates a false impression concerning the current state of bigotry. Think about it. Do people think racism is not really a big deal today because they do not hear that many racist people? How can you hear racist people when such thoughts get filtered by moderators, news editors and the media in general? In fact, if you want to be heard in this climate and you do not want to be ostracized in this climate, you know not to say overtly racist things. Thus, are people assuming that the absence of evidence is evidence of absence, which is a fallacy of logic?
On the other hand, if racist thought was not censored, what would be the consequence? I thought about that. To me, letting people say what they say risk encouraging more people into the behavior. It seems that the existence of something encourages others to emulate that something, as the more you see something the more normal it may appear to think or behave that way. It’s like living in an environment with a high murder rate. The more people see that as a means of conflict resolution the more they adapt it in conflict. Thus, letting people be openly bigoted without censor runs the risk of encouraging more of the behavior.
That having been said, it’s really the lesser of two evils. Censoring is not without consequences. When black people complain about racism, many people caste aspersion upon blacks for the thought, largely because they are not seeing evidence of racism. They are not reading racist post of forums; they are not hearing people in their circles saying racist things, they themselves are not saying racist things, etc. Well….that is largely due to the thoughts being censored from public view. It’s like akin to anti-virus software on a computer. Because you see no evidence of a virus or malware on your computer, does that mean that viruses and malware does not really exist anymore? The truth is that the viruses are being blocked by the antivirus software. Racism is blocked by laws and censoring, but racism is alive and well.
However, laws and censoring does not prevent black people from being impacted by racism. Racist acts are generally done unannounced. A white person is not going to advertise to a general audience that he/she is going to discriminate against a black person. No one is going to come on this forum and say they threw a resume of a black person in the trash or followed a black person around in the store because he was black, or told them that the rental unit that was available was unavailable, etc. So racism generally goes unwitnessed by others, despite blacks feeling its impact. However, people tend to remain incredulous about black claims because they are not hearing or seeing racism. Well….that is because we censor and therefore this creates the disconnect between black’s claims of racism and others believing those claims. If we allowed racist thought to go uncensored in society then people would hear it enough to the degree that they could see that blacks were being impacted by it, but since it is censored, people cannot relate....which tends to work to discredit black people.
You can't watch an hour of TV without seeing at least two commercials with a Black husband and a White wife.
I'd say that is an experiment the media and advertisers are promoting. Will it change anything? I know it doesn't go un-noticed.
But is that person point VALID? I know what thereir point was.....I just tend to think that such is an embellishment. The point is this. How do you invalidate racism? If there are all these incidents that claimed to be racist, what qualifies you to be the arbiter of the claim? A claim made on or against someone that is NOT YOU is disproved how by you? Do you have the ability to read minds?
I don't accept at face value that some is making claims like "Someone said Brady is racist because he is going to the white house". If such person made such a claim they are an IDIOT. However, how does this example then become representative of the typical claim of racism? It's only because the person CHOSE to make it such.....because they want to invalidate racism as a claim made by blacks.
Did you pay attention during the elections?
Still to this very day there are a TON of folks who claim that Trump supporters are racists by the very fact that they supported trump over HRC. Oh, and they were sexist also.
I could literally pull hundreds of posts here on CD where someone who is not in agreement with the standard lefty talking points is called racist, sexist, homophobe, hater, Islamophope, etc etc
I didn't make anyone resort to the fake cries of whateverism that fits their narrative. I'm just calling BS when i see it, and I see a LOT of it.
You can't watch an hour of TV without seeing at least two commercials with a Black husband and a White wife.
I'd say that is an experiment the media and advertisers are promoting. Will it change anything? I know it doesn't go un-noticed.
I see interracial couples often. They are a reflection of real life.
I'd also guess that having a commercial with an interracial couple probably is good business.
The vast majority of people watching tv really don't care if a product advertisement has an interracial couple and it doesn't affect their purchasing decision; however, it probably does have a small affect on the buying habits of interracial couples. I'd bet it has a positive overall impact on sales; although, it's probably very small.
Seriously, though... I am not in favor of censoring bigotry, but I would like to see people who spout it shunned by the media.
That includes the POTUS, btw.
It's just not acceptable to say some of the stuff that man says in so-called "polite" company.
I completely agree with this. What the entire issue comes down to is whether or not we should use the government to forcefully punish people who say offensive things. The answer should be NO.
That does not mean we accept or promote "offensive" or "hateful" speech. Social pressure should be used against those people, and that has a much more powerful effect than people realize.
But using violence against people because they spoke an idea or opinion you don't like? I'm still amazed that anyone even considers that acceptable. It almost feels like I'm living in medieval times when I hear that.
OP why do you only focus on black people being impacted by racism? I counted 10 times you used the term "blacks" or black people" when trying to make your point yet the title of your thread did not mention bigotry against black people which is obviously your focus.
Which is why when I started reading your thread, I was sure you were speaking about bigotry and racism against all groups at one time or another ..... but sadly your position seems to be that "only" blacks face true discrimination. What about white people? Do they not endure bigotry and discrimination? Racial quotas , gender quotas to fill jobs? What about LAtinos and asian people? Your post seems to be one sided.
here in Dallas we had an African American city councilman go on a "you are a racist" rant because a fellow (white) city councilman called a portion of the city budget a "black hole"
And for every idiot like him, there are 100 bigots.
And for every idiot like him, there are 100 bigots.
Yes, we're reminded of it all the time.
"I ordered my burger with mustard and got ketchup. It was a white person, and I know he did it because I am black. This type of racism happens all the time."
Thank goodness I'm not black and my order is correct 100% of the time.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
