When you demonize others for no good reason, people will respond to
your hostility appropriately. Simple as that.
Are you suggesting I demonized some person or group? If so in what way & how?
I'm afraid not. You're just being understood by people who better understand the consequences of what you say, and care about the damage.
What did I say that was damaging and in what way? How can I know if I'm not told?
I mean no damage to anyone.
Well - and I don't mean to specify you in this - dehumanizing people, and specifically trying to reduce them to playthings for perverts, is beyond rude, it's evil. I refuse to elevate or validate it with the faintest pretense of respect.
Who did I "dehumanize & in what way? I need to know.
You could ask.
I don't know why I would ask but O.K., I accept the notion.
Yes.
Honestly, I don't recall directing any at you, though there was a rather distracting episode, as you can see.
Who said you directed anything at me? I only said someone(s) did.
It's a difficult thing to spot simple ignorance in a sea of genuine bigotry, but if I did say something uncalled for, I will gladly make amends. If you'll refresh my memory, I'll explain and/ or apologize as current context warrants. The mobile site doesn't display post numbers, but page numbers will do.
I really don't know who the responder way & I'm not intersted in knowing. I don't
"do" grudges, resentments or revenge.
That's no way to make a point and explain a situation to one that has never experienced that sort of persecution.
I've never experienced the sort of persecution a gay or trans person has. I have experienced persecution. I've been shot at, attacked with knives, bottles, clubs, bricks fists & feet. Even tho I've been crippled for life I hold no resentments against any person or group. So it goes.
That's truly wonderful. Please, feel free to inquire further.
(... "in a manner befitting a kid-friendly forum" should go without saying, but as others have demonstrated, it doesn't. More's the pity.)
Perhaps you should.
You're quite right.
However, the flip side is that when dealing with people who are genuinely persecuted in a way that you
know you don't understand, it's advisable to approach the discussion in a manner that signals a desire to learn. If instead, you signal that you're one of the persecutors (which I do recall you did, though mildly compared to some), you shouldn't be surprised when the responses follow suit. This is true in all social justice spheres - racism, feminism, religious tolerance, classism....
From your will to God's, may it be so.
I want my orientation to be irrelevant to society. Should I ever be blessed with a match that warrants my oath, I want the gender of my beloved to be as irrelevant to the legal status of our union as it was to my ability to love. I want the pride movement to be obsolete, the parades and festivals needed only to commemorate darker times.
Orientation should be irrelevant.
I want to stop praying that my beautiful boy will be straight because I can't bear the thought of him experiencing the alienation all queers endure or die of in American society.
I understand that.
That's what acceptance means, but for everyone, all the time.
Yes, everyone, all the time.
Then you truly don't understand. Even the passive hatred of this culture drives queers to suicide. Fine upstanding citizens abandon their children to die on the streets, rather than "condone their sin." We are forced to choose between suffocating our authentic selves or placing ourselves in real and constant danger to live true to our Maker's intent.
Suicide? Yes, I know & understand suicide. I don't always understand the reasons for suicide.
Some of us can't help hating those who do so much harm - for myself, I see no reason to try. It may seem unenlightened to many, but my own faith celebrates the darkness along with the light. Like fire, hatred can consume the holder, but it can also fuel the holy rage that holds the power to transform the world.
I've been the victim of hatred and contempt. See what I wrote above.
Regardless, one should not conflate defiance with bigotry. It isn't assault to hit back.
O.K. I understand that. I won't be hurt again. I'm too old, too frail, too crippled
to fight anymore.
We all are, in this age. There's too much knowledge for any human to hold. The only shame is in refusing to learn when given the chance.
