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- #841
This is another way of saying what I have been arguing on this from the beginning. There is no liberty at all unless we each have the right to make wrong choices as well as right choices; unless we have the right to be wrong about something as much as we have the right to be right about something.
What I have been arguing in this thread is a culture that respects the unalienable right of each of us to say what we think, even if it is wrong, if it is ugly, if it is stupid, if it is ignorant, or if it is as right as rain. If our culture does not respect that unalienable right, then there is no freedom.
What you are talking about is when "ugly" became wrong, stupid and ignorant.
Some people don't respond to anything other than ugly ... And think that their ideas are worthwhile, correct and brilliant ... Until someone else tells them to take a flying leap.
They still don't think they are wrong, stupid, intrusive, immoral, unethical or disrespecting when they are told to take a flying leap ... But they may understand how much of their crap we are going to tolerate.
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Ah but here we are smack dab into the very heart of the thesis of the OP.
Several on this thread have made posts that, in my opinion, are ugly as well as wrong, stupid, and ignorant and that were intended to be insulting. Many were off topic and I have been trying to ignore those as much as possible. But if they had persisted and continued to the point that they were seriously derailing the thread, I would report them as bad ACTS. Not bad opinions.
As Mac pointed out, we can never have an honest discussion about anything if everybody's opinions are not included in the mix. But we can set the parameters of what the discussion will be and not allow unrelated issues or concepts to interfere with the focus on a specific subject to be discussed.
It is the difference between a 'bad' opinion and a 'bad' act.
Some seem to think it is fair game to punish a 'bad' opinion just as much as it is to punish a 'bad' act. And only a few of us seem to want to focus on discussing that in relation to unalienable rights and promoting liberty.
Tolerance in the context of the OP is not about appreciating or condemning the 'bad' opinions of others. We all should be able to do that as appropriate. Tolerance, in the context of the OP, however, is allowing people to have 'bad' opinions without fear that some angry mob, group, or organization will come after them to physically and/or materially punish them.
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