I appreciate your sharing, but I’m not sure what the point is. you’re right that laws might not necessarily change minds, but it’s hardly the point. It’s to allow all of us to live in peace and get on with life. If unjust laws are allowed to stand, which restrict the rights of certain individuals in order for some to feel comfortable (men to feel comfortable to harass women or whites to harass blacks or antisemites to bar jews from public life), how is that a society which is free and open. It’s by definition not a free or democratic society. It’s an unfree society meant to oppress some people.
Additionally, I think that saying to someone “those words you just said, they are hurtful, either to me or to some group of people” is not infringing on the rights of others. It’s letting them know they are being hurtful. It seems like it’s helpful to explain why you might feel that, of course.
Which is what I’m advocating for here. No… calling someone an n-word is not acceptable, nor is acceptable to make a woman feel uncomfortable for just doing her job. It’s also unacceptable to deny others their right to worship and to exist without an endless stream of harassment and intimidation. given what you just said, I suspect that you’d agree with all that. [quote=“tlwest, post:283, topic:95529”]
Every policy I choose has victims.
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Is that true? Who was victimized by the passage of civil rights legislation? Who is victimized by laws prohibited rape or child molestation or murder? Is it really so onerous to ask to be able to live one’s life without interference by others? If people feel victimized by such laws, I don’t think it’s something I’m losing sleep over, frankly. If that makes me as bad as the people who feel victimized by these laws, then so be it. I suspect it doesn’t, though.
