| If you debate things in mainstream circles, people who cite God do it to as a reference to God as an ultimate authority and to silence debate. God is perfect. God supports my position on this. End of conversation. In secular, liberal circles, the same function is apparently fulfilled by calling the other person a racist. It happened a number of times yesterday, and before it happens again or gets out of control, I'm going to take pre-emptive action and just ban the practice. Calling someone a racist or a homophobe or something else along those lines isn't intended to promote rigorous debate. It's intended to end the debate by making the other person feel tentative about their position based not on evidence or an intellectual process but through negative emotional pressure. Please note that this doesn't apply to non-living objects like laws or institutions or to people who are not actively posting on this site. The purpose of comments threads on this site is to encourage a vigorous converation among users. Calling Ted Nugent a racist in a comment on a post about something stupid Ted Nugent said or did doesn't impinge upon that. Calling the emergency manager law a racist law because you feel that it is applied mostly to urban, minority-led local governments doesn't impinge upon that. Calling a fellow user a homophobe because that person says that he doesn't think that same sex marriage is appropriate because marriage is an religious institution and that religion is stupid does. If you are unclear about any of this, err on the side of not calling someone a racist unless you are very certain that they are. Update! ... For the record, this also applies to charges of homophobia and sexism. |
