Will society's acceptance ever go too far?

[Smooth]

Do you watch FOX news by any chance?
Of course you have the right to not like it, but when you make it illegal like gay marriage then you're taking away freedoms. That's what I was getting at.

I watch every channel of news reports strictly for the humor. The scripted news is biased and inaccurate, wherever a person gets it from, so I fail to see how this question is relevant in the first place.
I have no power to make anything legal or illegal. It was my understanding that we were talking about BELIEFS. I have stated, time and again what I believe. It is not my problem or my concern that you don't approve of what I believe. I will continue to believe it regardless of anything that is said to me by anyone.

 

[Rebecca Chambers]

I support freedom and I intend to fight for it to any length and extent that is needed; particularly in the current state of my country. The people of my country are being slowly but surely shoved into an almost communistic way of life; we are almost imperceptibly being forced into a completely non-American ideal and the things being planned to stop that and take us back to what this country was founded on are things I will be taking part in, to lengths most would not consider.
These are what concern me; these freedoms. These are not synonymous with your definition of freedom.
I don't HAVE to accept accept accept everything that is shoved into my face. That is my right as an American. It is my right to NOT go along with the crowd and say that anything anyone wants to do is ok. It is my right not to accept any and every form of religion, or homosexuality, or any other **** thing. I don't live in the middle east where women are forced to be or act or talk or marry or dress or go where someone else tells them they have to. I can make up my own mind about anything and believe or not believe in anything I choose. THAT is freedom.

And similarly, it is the freedom of all other sexes, races, and religious beliefs to be treated with basic compassion and human rights. You don't have to like anything they do, but encroaching on their lives is not freedom, it's oppression. Using sexuality as an example, there are many aspects to heterosexuality which could be considered quite wrong; older women dating younger guys, older guys dating younger women etc. could be looked upon as wrong. Many don't consider it to be that bad. Personally I don't care, I figure love is love. So in that sense, I don't see it as any different than homosexuality; two people who love each other, and as long as they're not in-your-face about it (I absolutely HATE "loud and proud" homosexuality, I think it demeans everyone involved) it shouldn't affect anybody but the people involved.

 

[Smooth]

Disapproving of the lifestyle is not "encroaching" on anything. Not accepting it as normal is not encroaching on anything.
I say I don't like it, don't approve of it, find it strange and wrong in my world, and people react as if I've slaughtered a roomful of children. Just because the majority of the people here have been brought up with the mindset of "accept anything and everything that anyone wants to do regardless of anything else" does not mean that A: that was how I was brought up or B: that this attitude is the only acceptable one.
I grew up decades before most of the people here were even born. We weren't ingrained (and to me, brainwashed) with this accept everything and screw morals attitude.
Again, I do not walk around spouting hatred and disgust about anything. I discuss what topics interest me and say what I think and express my beliefs. Then when I do so, in a venue MEANT for just that purpose, I get flak and attitude flung back at me, only because it isn't popular and doesn't conform to what people here think. Pretty ironic, isn't it?

 

[Rebecca Chambers]

Disapproving of the lifestyle is not "encroaching" on anything. Not accepting it as normal is not encroaching on anything.
I say I don't like it, don't approve of it, find it strange and wrong in my world, and people react as if I've slaughtered a roomful of children. Just because the majority of the people here have been brought up with the mindset of "accept anything and everything that anyone wants to do regardless of anything else" does not mean that A: that was how I was brought up or B: that this attitude is the only acceptable one.
I grew up decades before most of the people here were even born. We weren't ingrained (and to me, brainwashed) with this accept everything and screw morals attitude.
Again, I do not walk around spouting hatred and disgust about anything. I discuss what topics interest me and say what I think and express my beliefs. Then when I do so, in a venue MEANT for just that purpose, I get flak and attitude flung back at me, only because it isn't popular and doesn't conform to what people here think. Pretty ironic, isn't it?

I meant in general, rather than using yourself as a target. Lots of people have opinions on things, but also feel the entitlement of waltzing around proclaiming their opinion as truth (read: pretty much any religious group, groups like the English Defence League etc). Beliefs are great, but many forget that not everyone shares the same ones, which is what leads to huge conflicts rather than intelligent discussion.

 

[Smooth]

Here's what I find very interesting:
In another thread on the same wavelength, a member wondered why everyone had to be so "liberal" and wondered why the thread being discussed had to be some mutual admiration and agree with each other kind of practice.
As soon as I got into that discussion (which I had previously avoided because I KNEW my views would not be appreciated) and showed that member that not everyone thought the same way, I was practically crucified there, too.
So what have we learned today? Seems to me that what is being taught is to accept everything in every aspect in every way of life.....EXCEPT people who think differently than you do. More irony....
Perhaps I should let you all go back to your liberal mutual admiration society and not disturb the members here with a different way of thinking.

 

[hannah]

This is actually a very good question, though I think we have a long way to get to that level of tolerance, if we ever do. However, I don't think things like paedophilia will ever be tolerated. Being black, homosexual or just a female doesn't hurt anybody, whereas things like paedophilia does and is something you'd see in the dark ages most likely. Prejudice of **** and blacks was not always a concern millions of years ago. Things like paedophilia, rape, murder, assault etc are all physically and mentally damaging so I don't think we will ever tolerate these kinds of things.

 

[Regulus]

In almost any case I can even think of, acceptance is generally a good thing. Whether or not that's what happens, that is what we should be working towards.

Saying that we shouldn't try to accept people seems like we're going back about 70 years or so into the past. Remember the last guy to disapprove of acceptance? Remember what that guy did? You know which side of WWII he was on.

Surely, as a society, we can try to be a bit better than that, with the way we treat minorities?

---

Smooth, the reason why your beliefs are met with such resistance is because homosexuals and bisexuals in today's society are being oppressed because of beliefs like yours.

Generally speaking, about 1 out of 7 people are homosexual. It's possible that the true numbers are actually even higher than that, but I digress. They're people, and they want to be accepted by society, just like everyone else.

They have thoughts and feelings too. What do you think it would be like for a homosexual person to read about how you disapprove of who and what they are?

I'm about as liberal as it gets, but that's not the issue here. The issue is that I (and many other people here, hopefully) am not going to allow any hate to be preached to groups of people who don't deserve it. I will argue against it to my last breath.

Opinions are great and all, but sometimes they're far more hurtful than we actually realize.