Brian Iverson

Brain in a vat, elaborate simulation, solipsism. They are impossible to refute. However people who claim to know that we actually are a brain in a vat or in a simulation or that our mind (well one of us I guess) is all there is in the universe are actually impossible to discuss anything with. I don’t know unseen if you’ve ever debated with, for…[Read more]

We know virtually nothing about consciousness (the tiniest tip of the iceberg) but apparently we already know everything there is to know about free will. Amazing isn’t it?

Indeed Jake. I was saying “if” it were the case there was a systematic egregious hate campaign against the elderly in the same way minorities and LGTBQ+ faced it then I would say, by all means make them a protected class. I am unaware of any movement to oppress the elderly as there are against minorities and other protected classes. Unseen if you…[Read more]

If a person or group of people insulted the elderly in their faces for being old, tried to create laws that gave them fewer rights and told them they aren’t human beings, were verbally threatening, graffitied their houses with slander about the elderly and smeared them repeatedly then I would say yes, why on Earth would you not take special…[Read more]

Jake has pretty much touched on it. The free market of ideas only did so much to end violence and discrimination against LGTBQ+ people (not to mention minorities etc). It was necessary but completely insufficient. Violence, graffiti and hate speech are at the lowest level ever seen and yet it still happens but, you know, we don’t have to worry…[Read more]

the government infantilizes people by “protecting” them from feeling bad

If you think that the consequences of hate speech are “simply feeling bad” then you are more ignorant than I ever thought you could be.

That’s kind of a backdoor argumenum ad populum, though, isn’t it?

No. It shows that an enlightened culture that takes protecting marginalised people seriously can face a difficult issue and solve it without resorting to fear of slippery slopes or the hassle and tiny inconvenience of slightly adjusting their way of doing things…without kic…[Read more]

Whether the spray-painted item is a heart or a message of hate makes no difference.

Well it actually does make a difference to the person who is now afraid to leave their house and is humiliated by hatred in their community. How about instead of very badly citing Occam’s razor (do visit the wikipedia page on the topic to familiarise yourself with…[Read more]

If gays simply kept a list of gay-unfriendly businesses, available to gays and gay-sympathizers alike, they could simply boycott them.

Easy to say when you’ve never faced discrimination once in your life…nor faced the indignity of public hatred for a quality you were born with and cannot change. I like how the marginalised groups always have to…[Read more]

Criticising a religion is not a hate crime. Dehumanising a group of people because they believe in one is. So it’s really one thing to vehemently show your distain for a religion, it is another to attack someone because they believe so egregiously that they fear for their safety or are made to be second class citizens.

Consider the difference b…[Read more]

You cannot refuse to sell something you generically offer to the public to anyone in Spain unless they have been disruptive in your establishment or you have good reason that they are committing a crime in the process of requesting or using the product. You can refuse optional projects or “custom” work but you cannot refuse to sell a product…[Read more]

Enconginator,

Not ALL of those things happened to me. Some of them were just examples that people face every day. I am not arguing about what the law is. I’m arguing about what it ought to be in places where they don’t have laws that protect vulnerable marginalised people. It is up to people in those countries to decide if they have them or not.…[Read more]

I suppose God would come down from the heavens and reveal himself before Trump would give a concession speech.

Also Encog. your argument about the Ku Klux Klan is totally fallacious. Just because a group of people supported lots of terrible things doesn’t mean everything they supported was terrible nor is it the case that if they support things for the wrong reasons that the same policy is useful for the right reasons or in the right contexts. Check out rat…[Read more]

If you really believe that human beings are all fucked up, why would you trust those same human beings with the political power to decide what ideas are “dangerous” and then use political power to shut down those ideas?h

You trust the government to limit free speech when it comes to libel, contempt, interfering with the police, causing a pan…[Read more]

Glen, we have to make a distinction between hate inciting gross offence and social outrage. These two may over lap but they are not the same thing. Just because you hear people loudly complaining about say a straight actor playing a gay role or things that may seem more trivial like fat shaming, and while I agree on the cumulative that can become…[Read more]

Indeed, in addition to laws against publishing pornography, laws against fraud…

…perjury, causing a panic, inciting a crime, speech that interferes with a police investigation, libel, misleading advertising, lewdness towards children, speech that causes a public disruption, speech that is in contempt of court. All of these involve penalties…[Read more]

Okay thanks Kristina for the info. I’m sure Anne Coulter’s speech was full of accurate non-inflammatory insightful constructive meaningful information. 😉

Jake I think the US has a particularly tough process to passing constitutional change (I mean the president, 2/3 of both houses AND 34 states to get a single amendment through. Yikes. It means only under the most exceptional circumstances can any even remotely contested amendments get through.

To be honest I think the two amendments the US need…[Read more]