Bay 12 Games Forum

It's been a thing in the US too to some extent, but with a uniquely American character:
Some US schools *do* have kitty litter.
For sheltering in place during... incidents.

And yet trolls and credulous bigots happily spun a culture-war narrative about it.  Along with people demanding that we take their "concerns" seriously and be respectful.
Like no
The people spinning lies to incite hatred should be stopped.  With state violence if necessary, AKA fines and whatever.

And the people who believe this shit are a combination of stupid and eager to believe hateful messaging.  They don't deserve respect for that, they need deprogramming.  The extent to which they actually *believe* what they're saying is debatable- they see a narrative that affirms their bigotry, they share it.  Fuck'm.  Kindness WILL NOT change their mind.

Obviously, if they *do* change their mind- perhaps because they're tired of being mocked for their gullibility and hatred- I fully believe in restorative justice, which in this case is just "Don't sweat it, cults are addictive, glad you're better now <3".  I know many such people.  Affirming and respecting their bigotry wasn't what snapped them out of it.

...I mean, I had shitty takes on trans people at first too.  People were firm with me- AKA treated me with *actual* respect by calling out how I was wrong.  That's been true on more political issues as well.  Appeasement doesn't work and it's infantalizing.

I find this... deeply concerning. These parts in particular.

The people spinning lies to incite hatred should be stopped.  With state violence if necessary, AKA fines and whatever.

They don't deserve respect for that, they need deprogramming. 

Kindness WILL NOT change their mind.

Though those advocating for it always consider it necessary, history teaches us how vile 'deprogramming' is.

Also:

Appeasement doesn't work and it's infantalizing.

Yea, appeasement is infantilising and a stupid idea. It's still not as stupid, nor as infantilising, as enforcing a nanny state over thought/belief.

Frankly, your manipulative approach would probably make the issue MUCH more pronounced. A Crusade may get you Jerusalem - but not for long.

The best way to convince those willing to be convinced? Conversation, personal example, and treating people with respect - which I am going to call the 'kindness' approach.

Which seems to have been the method which worked for you, depending on the form/aggression of the 'calling out.'

Edit: I think most concerning for me is that your approach, boiled down, is 'fight hatred with hatred.'

I'd say treat them the same? It's always gonna be difficult to spot trolls, but the underlying principles/identity politics remain identical.

-Humans like boiling water
-By boiling water they discovered how to use steam engines to power great machines
-They used these great machines to harvest coal to burn and boil more water
-They discovered they could use this coal to boil water to make electricity people could use to boil water at home without needing to burn coal
-Whilst burning coal to avoid burning coal to boil water they discovered that burning coal was generally shite and also running out of coal so time to burn oil and gas to boil water to make electricity to power the water boilers
-Begin to reach new technological heights. Learn how to harness the power of the atom by using nuclear fission to boil water to make steam to spin turbines to generate electricity to boil water

fast forwards 1,000 years
-Humanity is boiling water using the accretion disc of a singularity generator in order to boil water

Lol.

Germans know how to be cheerful?

Or is it an anthropological term applied to other cultures?

Nice?

Personally, I was fairly placid in high school. One wee runt took it as an invitation to call me names for a month or so. Until I lifted him bodily up a wall and told him I'd kill him if he kept it up.

So he stopped 

((I'm well aware it was an over-reaction, and a cautionary tale on repressing anger over a long period of time.))

I'm glad for you!

Sorry that you folks experience such a poor cross section of Christianity.

Christians are people, and Christianity a thing they perform at certain points of life.

The woman sings in the choir, but brags about her affairs in the pub.

The drunkard cusses passersby, but gets on his knees to pray at his mother's funeral.

The takeaway: it's not a 'poor cross section,' it's a normal sample of the human population.

Medieval times =/= technological/architectural wasteland.

Friendly reminder that Westminster Abbey was built in the 13th century.