I am firm in my belief that this place needs a good debate thread once in a while. I am sick to death of bullshit religion "debates" involving two idiots bantering about people forcing beliefs onto them. I couldn't give a fuck about that, if you're dumb enough to be subdued by someone performing a recruitment task, you shouldn't really be complaining about your ineptness to debate it with them face to face.
And that leads me to this thread. The retreat of the modern debate. I seen in a thread recently ZRH's comment about when you first meet a person, the cardinal rule is not to discuss politics. Why is this? Is it okay for people to harbour inappropriate beliefs? Are you afraid of being tarred a "radical" because you disagree with your country's policy on "tabboo" subjects like immigration or pandering to specific ethnic groups in return for votes?
When I ever attempt to raise any point of discussion with most of my friends, or anyone for that matter, I am often met with an almost universally intolerant and intellectually dishonest response by people who prefer political correctness over factual correctness. On subjects such as HIV/AIDS for instance, or the fact that kids are running feral in the streets robbing and mugging.
I can understand the my reasoning towards the continuing spiraling out of control of HIV/AIDS for most people will be an emotional one. Perhaps they know people who have suffered from this horrible disease. But emotion should never overtake factual reasoning, you can't wrap everything in cotton-wool forever. It's also a highly sensitive subject. Somewhere, deep rooted in all our brains we know that the main reason for the insane growth of the virus is due to African migration. People, leaving Africa, coming here and being diagnosed with HIV. But are we willing to accept it? No, Clearly, in most people’s minds, this theory couldn’t be true—everyone knew the increase in HIV was because of complacent and promiscuous teenagers. Right?
And so I hand it to you, Chairman. Is the current climate of Political Correctness stymying our love of political and socioeconomic debate through fear of offending other people involved? Or is it a good thing to candy-coat the facts?
Take it away.
And that leads me to this thread. The retreat of the modern debate. I seen in a thread recently ZRH's comment about when you first meet a person, the cardinal rule is not to discuss politics. Why is this? Is it okay for people to harbour inappropriate beliefs? Are you afraid of being tarred a "radical" because you disagree with your country's policy on "tabboo" subjects like immigration or pandering to specific ethnic groups in return for votes?
When I ever attempt to raise any point of discussion with most of my friends, or anyone for that matter, I am often met with an almost universally intolerant and intellectually dishonest response by people who prefer political correctness over factual correctness. On subjects such as HIV/AIDS for instance, or the fact that kids are running feral in the streets robbing and mugging.
I can understand the my reasoning towards the continuing spiraling out of control of HIV/AIDS for most people will be an emotional one. Perhaps they know people who have suffered from this horrible disease. But emotion should never overtake factual reasoning, you can't wrap everything in cotton-wool forever. It's also a highly sensitive subject. Somewhere, deep rooted in all our brains we know that the main reason for the insane growth of the virus is due to African migration. People, leaving Africa, coming here and being diagnosed with HIV. But are we willing to accept it? No, Clearly, in most people’s minds, this theory couldn’t be true—everyone knew the increase in HIV was because of complacent and promiscuous teenagers. Right?
And so I hand it to you, Chairman. Is the current climate of Political Correctness stymying our love of political and socioeconomic debate through fear of offending other people involved? Or is it a good thing to candy-coat the facts?
Take it away.