Then don't be. If you care about not offending others unintentionally, when you do, learn how and make a change.
I'm not. That would be an impossible task. I do care about offending others. However since its impossible not to offend unintentionally -after all it’s unintentional- I can only empathize with those offended. There is no change that can be made. As I've been saying...debate is offensive. It’s inevitable.
No one wants to be wrong -normally. No one finds it comfortable to be disagreed with -normally. However in a debate where the goal is to achieve true opinion and each debater approaches the subject with a proposition that their opinion is true offence is inevitable. That is a fact that must -since it can't be eliminated- be overcome if they are to come to an agreement. Sadly it often isn't.
I'm saying that homophobia is not a legitimate position.
I disagree. Homophobia is a label applied to those who've definitely taken a legitimate action. I personally think the word has been often misapplied and abused as a derogatory statement about persons who do not care to "respect" homosexual practices.
Being a religious belief doesn't legitimize it. Being an ancient, entrenched, or traditional belief doesn't legitimize it.
Perhaps we are suffering from a gap between what you mean by legitimize and what I think is legitimate.
Religious belief is a legitimate belief. The specifics of that belief which may or may not be in accordance with reality cannot be said to be legitimized. That I can agree with you on.
If being labeled homophobic is supposed to reflect the actions of a person then I'd say homophobia is legitimized through that action.
That's a bit different than saying someone shouldn't be legitimately homophobic but I'd have to say that homophobia in that sense can be a legitimate position. Since, as you've said, everything is homophobic that is in disagreement with homosexuals, I think it would then come down to a question of what is wrong with homophobia? There may very well be reasonable aversion to homosexuality in such people. But that is the debate isn't it?
Morally, they should be loving and tolerant.
Loving and tolerant of what? Consider...if I see homosexuality as harmful in some manner -for society, for the individual, or in some manner indicative of disease-why should I be loving and tolerant of it? I wouldn't consider a person’s cancer to be deserving of love and tolerance. Nor would I show love or tolerance for a person who deliberately and professedly enjoys the cancer that they have.
Now I realize that comparing homosexuality to cancer or disease is a very offensive thing and very debatable but my main point is...what is it that would be moral to show love and tolerance towards? If I find homosexual practices distasteful wouldn't it be immoral for me to feign love for something I cannot love? Tolerance is a different animal. If we as a civilization are to avoid spiraling into violence and chaos we should all practice tolerance -not necessarily of the practice but certainly of the person’s moral right to exist as a person - in our journey towards true opinion.
Those that won't be should be made uncomfortable if they express their bigotry.
Its only bigotry to those that disagree. Is it bigotry to condemn those that practice cannibalism? How about those that take child brides?
Is it bigotry to condemn those that think they have the right to disturb the peace at will? What about those who think they have the right to abuse their spouse as head of the household? Are you bigoted against radical Islamic terrorists? How about strict literalists in Christian scripture being right?
Bigotry is typically unreasonably founded. I believe I have reasons for finding homosexuality distasteful.
One might also ask if instinct is a form of bigotry then. How do we determine what is consistently taught versus what is persistently instinctual?
How did you decide?
Made uncomfortable? Their already uncomfortable-obviously. I am uncomfortable seeing a man passionately kissing another man. So I show distaste by turning away if I am unfortunate enough to witness such things. That my friend was not learned behavior. That is my instinctual reaction. I don't hate the men. I don't know them. I react the same as if I saw someone eating slimy worms. (I can't stand the texture). I'd probably die in a survival situation if that were a requirement. It’s a process found in a theory of mind and it seems to be not learned but innately wired.
I think that those that express themselves in a way that you disagree with makes you uncomfortable. I think you don't like to be uncomfortable -who can blame you- so you condemn their actions. Yet you've ONLY considered your comfort, not theirs, because you've declared they have no rights to be comfortable in the situation. Again, that is the debate isn't it
How is that not the content of their character? They seem playful and fun-loving to me.
I'm sure some pedophiles or serial rapists can put on a playful and fun-loving show as well. Straight people too.
I think you missed the point. Their playful and fun-loving actions specifically express and emphasize their sexuality not their humanity.
If those two abominations I mentioned above put on a parade explicitly emphasizing their desires but did it in a "playful and fun-loving" way would that change anything? No, its still a parade expressing pedophilic and rapist desires.
Have you ever been to a "straight" parade in which you equate the parade with the message of who a straight person cares to have sex with?
Can you imagine? Let’s have a parade where everyone in it emphasizes celebrating sex with members of the opposite gender. But let’s do it playfully and in a fun-loving way. That's a parade everyone should let their kids attend.
What these types of parades do is send a message (learning) that sex in whatever form you wish it to take is okay, normal, and should be promoted. Wanna have sex in public...okie dokie. Wanna have sex with whatever inanimate object you desire...go for it, that's normal. Want to have sex with same gender, someone else's wife or husband, an invalid, your high school friends, 3, 4 , 100 or more at a time, a donkey (just don't get caught, its illegal) well then have at it. Everything's good if it feels good for all participants. Where's the line and who draws it? You? Me? Them?
Want to have our kids have a twisted sense of sexualization in popular culture then complain about it when statutory rapists, pedophiles, and perverted teachers come buzzing around to take advantage like flies on ****. Not a problem. Just have a parade, advertise, and celebrate the different means of having sex while at the same time mythologizing sexualization to the point where a kid can go to school in a nearly see through tank top and short shorts and then sue the school for sending her home to change because of the boys normal adolescent reactions to sexual stimuli becomes a distraction from learning. I mean after all its unrealistic to imagine that a females body can be a source of sexual excitement to males and made more so depending on how one presents that body.
Heck let’s just have a fun and playful parade celebrating all these forms of hedonism and see where that gets us. Oh wait...we're nearly to that point already but I sure don't see society getting any better.
And much of the world is about sexuality - fashion, makeup, entertainment, beaches, and clubbing. Heterosexuality has long been used in advertising. Sex sells. Maybe you object to that as well.
Yes I object to that. Sex does sell. And it sells very well for a reason. It's a manipulation of a natural instinct for one’s own gain.
I'm not against advertisement. One needs to advertise their products to sell to the largest audience in order to pay oneself and those they hire while having enough assets left over to further produce more product.
I'm am against advertisement that isn't forthright and that takes advantage of psychological quarks of human behavior in order to sell unneeded, useless, sometimes dangerous junk that more often than not ends up filling homes, then garages, then storage units, then the natural world while depleting resources, hard earned funds, and mental health. All for the mad pursuit of wealth while touted as being in the name of progress. Manipulation of instinct is a primary ingredient of that type of advertisement and it’s shameful.
We've painted ourselves into a corner -not knowing what to believe anymore - primarily because of these types of immoral and parasitic practices.
I'm just not that interested in what law-abiding people do. But bigotry is a character issue for me.
That's your prerogative. We all pick our battles. Some unwisely in my opinion. Consider though that history has shown that law-abiding people can be bigoted in the extreme. So, in that sense maybe you should be more concerned with those law abiding citizens that are bigoted.