this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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There actually is no paradox if you think of this way:
Be tolerant of ideas that harm nobody.
Be intolerant of ideas that harm others.
"I'm gay." <- Tolerable.
"I'm not gay, so I won't date men." <- Tolerable.
"I'm not gay, so I think we should kill all gay people." <- Intolerable.
The dilemma is how you define harming others and what implies being intolerant to an idea rather than a person holding that idea.
Harm is a pretty solid metric. Not some imaginary "think of the children" harm, but the "this disturbs/literally harms me" kind.
Yes, some people are precious little weirdos that won't want to see anything. The question then falls to society to determine if it was ultimately tolerable if they bring up grievance. Then the paradox comes in because the general vibes are always a moving target.
Sorry but no, it's not in any way solid. Some think of what they see as sinful as harmful.
No, sin is wholly different than harm.
Beliefs and personal convictions muck that up a bit though.
There's a sadly significant portion of people who truly believe that being gay is hurting other people.
Whether they believe it only because they were told to or for some personal reason, they believe it nonetheless.
A gay person existing doesn't actually literally harm anyone though. A homphobe shouting slurs at a gay person, excluding them from vital social, economic or whatever activity or beating them up does very concretely harm someone. It's not that difficult.
It doesn't, but that doesn't mean people can't believe that it does.
The problem with this is that people disagree about what harms others. Right wing insane people are not living in the same reality that you and I are. They genuinely believe that even seeing a gay person is harmful. They genuinely believe that the existence of gay people is harmful to others.
Well no, there are objective harms and subjective harms.
If I slap you that's an objective harm.
If I'm gay and that's objectional to you, that's a subjective harm to some people.
Essentially physical acts v emotional harms.
Some people may see all morales as God given and therefore absolute
Perhaps absolute but still not objective. I can prove things that are objective with repetition, subjective things not so much.
It is much more nuanced 🙁
By your logic almost every human would be intolerant. Big example is eating and exploiting animals.
You are so close
Close to what?
I'll let you figure it out :3
Yes. I think harm is an excellent way to qualify it. As the old saying goes " if it ain't harm none do as thou mote "
or more succinctly: an ye harm none, do what ye will