Posted by SLS on July 18, 2005, at 2:42:07
In reply to Re: Bigotry defined » so, posted by NikkiT2 on July 17, 2005, at 18:06:30
> My mind is elsewhere, else I would have posted this elsewhere.
>
> But I just wanted you to know I also thing that allowing scientlogy to be called creepy is uncivil in my eyes, if it is not allowed to be said of Vhristianity et al..
Just a thought.What if we were talking about a group of people for whom the affiliation was not a religion. For instance, what about the Nathan's Hot-Dog Eaters Club (who share the showers with an incredulous Polar Bear Club), an association that denies being a religion and whose main tenet is that hot-dogs are the most healthful of all available foods, and whose second tenet is that people who don't participate in Nathan's hot dog eating contests are creepy? Or better yet, how about hot-dog eaters in general who hate polar bears?
Would the following be civil?
1. Those Nathan's Hot-Dog Eaters Club people are creepy.
2. Hot-dog eaters who hate polar bears are creepy.
3. Those Polar Bear Club people are even creepier than the NHDEC people.
Does it make a difference that hot-dog eaters who hate polar bears are not a religion or even an affiliation?
How about relativists versus quantum mechanists?
How about evolutionists versus creationists?
How about people who follow this thread versus people who don't follow this thread?
"People who don't follow this thread are creepy"
Uh oh. I can actually feel the creepiness starting to set in.What happens when you take the focus off the person and place it on the object?
"That quantum mechanics sure is creepy."
"That creationism sure is creepy."Where do you draw the line? Should lines be drawn? Should political correctness be the driving force behind favoring protection of one phrase over another? Should quantum mechanics be protected with the same vigor as creationism?
When, if ever, does an exercise in logic and semantics lose its relevance to civility?
As I've said many times, I'm glad it is not my job to moderate Psycho-Babble.
By the way, I do eat hot-dogs, I think of them as junk-food, and I like polar bears, but refuse to become a Polar Bear. I think what they do is creepy.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:529057
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050716/msgs/529413.html