Well you might have to convince this guy he is wrong, and ignorant. Good luck there. There is no requirement for freedom of choice, that you be educated. Plus who is going to educate you that you are wrong?
Let's not lose sight of freedom here. If you believe in freedom, then you must allow someone the freedom to remain ignorant. That person has the freedom to choose wrongly (by whatever stick you have to measure wrongness with), and that choice might just lead them to do something illegal. Can't be helped. The true price of freedom. Once that person does something illegal you then take his/her freedoms away. This has no bearing on a person's choice to believe a thing. Once you start telling people what they can and can't believe you've given up the ghost of freedom and are on the road to fascism, well meaning or not.
I don't believe our public schools should teach that being gay is good or bad, that should be up to the parents, and ultimately the individual. If science teaches that it is natural, which it is, then that should be taught, without the judgement of right/wrong. Same thing with evolution, etc. If you don't like it, then please go to a forum which supports your idiocy, err. ideology.
I honestly wish our government would not be involved in marriage anyway. No tax breaks for a choice in living arrangements. Marriage, in my opinion, is a religious rite, or I guess it could be a non-religious contract with your spouse. I do think the government should make parents responsible for their kids, regardless of marriage.
Personally, I don't have time for bigots either, but I would be afraid of anyone that feels justified taking away their right to believe, for their own good, ya know.
Sorry, didn't mean to threadjack.....
-----Added 4/12/2008 at 03 : 11 : 01-----
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Jazz
So in my hypothetical where I have two gay kids, I'm wrong to be outraged that someone would hate my kids? Or, to remove the hypothetical, to be outraged that this guy seemingly hates any kids that happen to be gay?
He's got a right to his opinion. I've got a right to mine. However, mine doesn't lead to lynch mobs or hate crimes. Guess whose does.
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You are not wrong to be outraged, but it really does no good to get pissed, does it?
Does it always lead to lynch mobs and hate crimes? Even most of the time? By the way I only believe in crimes. Hate is a separate issue and should only be used to establish motive. Hate itself is not a crime. Is murder any less loathsome because someone hated another person, or just because you wanted something from that person? Some people murder out of what they would call love. Does that make it better? I don't think so.
All this reminds me of some lines from The American President (not the best movie, but...):
"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free"."
That kind of sums it up.