Tolerance & Hate Speech

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Phunkie wrote on 2010-10-07 01:21

Quote from Spartaaaaa;177778:
I wish people had a little more tolerance for intolerance in this country...

Tolerance.

Where do you draw the line?

You've all been reminded many times before (while growing up in school) that it's never okay to hit someone, even in retaliation. Doesn't matter if you're the victim or not, you receive the same consequences as the offender if you fight back in school, most of the times.

But what if it's not physical?

What if someone aims to bring you down every time he sees you, with offensive words and language? How much of that are really expected to tolerate? Or should you tolerate that at all?

Where do we draw the line?

Is it right to expect a person to tolerate racist language or homophobic remarks? It's not allowed in school or at jobs, so why is speech that is meant to deliberately offend someone of a certain background so protected in the Bill of Rights?

It shouldn't be.

What are your opinions?
Shirayuki wrote on 2010-10-07 01:26

I don't tolerate offensive remarks if they're bad enough. If it's just ignorance though, and/or not a serious remark, I'll just let the idiot go on in life.
Zid wrote on 2010-10-07 01:38

I'd have to ignore too. If it's just me anyway.

If it's disturbing me, or non-stop, there'd be some consequences from me.
Lan wrote on 2010-10-07 02:43

I react to slights with violence if I know the person and know they will not say anything. I do not generally insult someone.
Intex wrote on 2010-10-07 03:14

Quote from Spartaaa:
I wish people had a little more tolerance for intolerance in this country...

Would be great if people put up with racism and sexism too right?
We should just ignore all these suicide cases that occur from intolerance.

No one should have to tolerate any sort of intolerance.
Unfortunately we end up ignoring such behavior because we don't have the time or power to fight it.

Is it right to expect a person to tolerate racist language or homophobic remarks? It's not allowed in school or at jobs, so why is speech that is meant to deliberately offend someone of a certain background so protected in the Bill of Rights?

It may be protected by the Const. but the school is the one that punishes and passes judgement.
You do not have the right to free speech if it harms or intrudes on other people's rights.
If blatant racist bullying occurred at a school, there is no doubt those kids would be punished.
However Conservative area schools are notorious for ignoring such bullying, the recent suicides really show it.

If anything America is too tolerant towards intolerance, it's sickening.
Ailyene wrote on 2010-10-07 07:57

Well if they don't get in trouble for racist or homophobic remarks, why can't you just offend them back? If you can't tolerate what they say, insult them back then. It doesn't really solve anything, but it might make you feel better than to just simmer there silently taking it all in.

(also, I know that it is very difficult to ignore a person who wants to bring you down all the time, but if you just act the opposite of what they want, they'll eventually find it boring and stop anyway. There are ways to fight back without getting in trouble.)

It'd be pretty hard to censor out bad words using law because people would just find new words to describe negative things and then they'd have to censor that too...then the cycle would just continue.

Anyways, I think there are a lot of flaws in the law as well, but I'm just a citizen and I think I know better, but I probably don't, so...=/
Spartaaaaa wrote on 2010-10-07 19:02

Being the "hateful, radical" Christian that I am, you may be surprised to hear that I am often the subject of hate speech and intolerance. At any rate, my here's my take on it

"Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ" - 1st Peter 3:16

In other words, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me... as long as my conscience does not condemn me as well.
Intex wrote on 2010-10-07 19:44

Quote from Spartaaaaa;178395:
Being the "hateful, radical" Christian that I am, you may be surprised to hear that I am often the subject of hate speech and intolerance./I]

The reason you're subject to hate speech and intolerance is because of your words and actions.
You're identified as a "hateful radical Christian" because you choose to be that way.
We're not supposed to tolerate the way you behave towards others.
Phunkie wrote on 2010-10-07 20:11

Quote from Spartaaaaa;178395:
Being the "hateful, radical" Christian that I am, you may be surprised to hear that I am often the subject of hate speech and intolerance. At any rate, my here's my take on it

In other words, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me... as long as my conscience does not condemn me as well.

Ah, I'm sorry.

This thread wasn't directed at ya. It was just inspired from that post you made, which I don't agree with.

I wasn't referring to you when I spoke about hate speech. In fact, I was referring to people like the Westboro Baptist Church members and bullies who drive others to hate themselves and commit suicide, as it's been evident in the news.

Words can hurt a lot, man. That's why you gotta be careful on how to discipline a child. Yelling at them isn't the right answer always.

One can ignore being made fun of only for so long. This is why people go to schools and start shooting people.

Their actions may not be justified, but it certainly proves that there's a limit to tolerance. Hate speech and abusive language towards you should not be tolerated.
Spartaaaaa wrote on 2010-10-07 20:53

Quote from Intex;178417:
The reason you're subject to hate speech and intolerance is because of your words and actions.
You're identified as a "hateful radical Christian" because you choose to be that way.
We're not supposed to tolerate the way you behave towards others.

Having contrary opinions and expressing them =/= hate
paladin wrote on 2010-10-08 02:39

Thes kinda the oxymoron about this country
Were suppose to be tolerant to all walks of life in order to curb intolerance
But that very tolerance is not enough