fordy on 10 January 2013
| timmah said: I don't understand why some people automatically assume that if you disagree with somebody's actions or lifestyle, you're automatically a bigot, this makes no sense. I personally think it's wrong to sleep around, but I have close friends who do and I'm not bigoted towards them, it's their choice and not my place to judge them. If they came to me asking for advice, I'd give it to them straight, but that doesn't mean I hate them, judge them, dislike them, am bigoted towards them, or anything else like that. It's very possible to disagree with somebody's personal choices without being a 'bigot', and unfortunately that term gets thrown around way too often to degrade other people's opinions. I even worked with (and was good friends with) an openly gay man for a few years. I never saw it as my duty to judge him or tell him my opinion about his actions, because they are HIS actions and aren't hurting anybody else, so why should I care what he does at home? We even had a couple good discussions about gay marriage and he agreed with me about civil unions. That's why, while a don't personally believe that homosexual acts are 'ok', the same way I don't think sleeping around is 'ok', or that watching porn is 'ok' (which DOES NOT make me bigoted against people who do those things), I don't think it's right to deny people rights based on that, which is why I believe we should have civil unions with same or similar legal benefits to marriage. Also, if a same-sex couple wants a ceremony, there are plenty of ministers out there who will do that. |
Technically, bigotry is a mindset towards another group (definition. Bigotry is the state of mind of a bigot, defined by Merriam-Webster as "a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices). However, if you're referring to my posts, you'll see that I only refer to people with intentions to act upon said prejudice (eg. Ensuring their child will not be gay, which would involve at least some degree of going out of your way to achieve it). Bigotry by thought is near impossible to guage, since everyone has such thoughts, whether they're just mere flashing thoughts or ones that remain embedded in their mindset for life.
