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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (78375)	10/27/2003 5:41:28 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

It is just my belief that society is better off for having a tinge of contempt for clearly irrational and contemptible beliefs. It seems to me that we judge the behaviour in accordance with how strongly we despise the belief. I take your point. But like everything else, there are tradeoffs. If it's a Good Thing for you to have righteous indignation about their beliefs, then it's a Good Thing for them to do so about yours. People are entitled to their beliefs. And if their beliefs include the demonizing and the dehumanizing of others--well...so what? Beliefs are part of who people are. They are raised to have them. They are not as immutable as race, but they border on it for masses of people. If you focus on the belief, it is not unlike focusing on their race or gender or sexual orientation or whatever. Sure, there is a relationship between belief and behavior. But you're not going to change anyone's belief any more than you're going to change his sexual orientation by denigrating it. The only constructive thing to do is to focus on the behavior.