erock68la

Strega wrote:I think ‘outing’ is discrediting a person, not his or her opinions and actions. So you call out a hypocrite. You out a guy for having homosexual phone sex whilst voting against LGBT protections. How is that helping the cause?

It’s not a persuasive argument in favor of your position. It does, however, shut up one member of your opp…[Read more]

I believe we are in a kind of grey area, where either side’s position is correct dependent on the circumstances. I’m quite sure we can both create scenarios to support the two positions.

In this situation, I’d usually fall back on the golden rule, do no harm etc…

if this had been a black and white clear cut matter, you would not have raised it in a moral debate now would you?

Hence phrases like “I’m not so sure” or “that’s one way of looking at it”.

I believe there is a moral blind spot in us when we ridicule others, because I think it feeds into a smug sense of superiority by the ridiculer that is…

[Read more]

if this had been a black and white clear cut matter, you would not have raised it in a moral debate now would you? 🙂

I believe there is a moral blind spot in us when we ridicule others, because I think it feeds into a smug sense of superiority by the ridiculer that is primitive and not particularly socially helpful.

Outing someone is an act…[Read more]

@Strega ,

Calling out a homosexual intent on limiting the rights of others (as well as himself) to keep his seat in a legislature…is not ad hominem. It’s revealing that the person…quite likely…doesn’t even agree with the argument he is making. How is that ad hominem? It would be ad hominem if we said “hey…that politician was a closeted…[Read more]

I think ‘outing’ is discrediting a person, not his or her opinions and actions. So you call out a hypocrite. You out a guy for having homosexual phone sex whilst voting against LGBT protections. How is that helping the cause?

First of all, you’re declaring he is secretly part of the LGBT community, thus making that community seem hypocritical…[Read more]

@erock68la

Indeed. Predatory banking is a silly example and hardly relates to what we are talking about here (those who campaign or vote to discriminate against a protected class of people (while they moonlight as one of them) attacking their rights, dignity, sense of equality and making them lesser than others. Outing this person is hardly…[Read more]

Should people ever be outed for their personal sexual choices?

That depends.

Is the information about the person’s sexuality reliable and reasonably true?
Is the person in a position of significant social or political power?
Is the person using that power to harm others directly or indirectly?
Is outing the person likely to curtail his or her…[Read more]