As disgusting as the thoughts and feelings might be, we shouldn't be trying to regulate what people think and feel inside their own heads. That's a level of tyranny that would be a living hell. It's also corrosive to society to create a situation where everyone is paranoid about the "other" hiding in plain sight among us. This paranoia over internal mental states is precisely the kind of oppression which was directed against Jewish people and against homosexuals in the past. This is precisely what was called out in the "Have you no Decency?" moment where McCarthy's fall started.
In 2019, outrage mongering should automatically trigger skepticism -- especially if the subject matter is extra lurid and stigmatizing.
No, it's not "just" othering. It's a particularly potent form of othering, because it's based on the most lurid, most instantly damaging, and most easily outrage inducing subject. It's potent and has the most potential for exploitation precisely because everyone agrees it's bad.
The problem is not having an issue with pedophilia. The problem is with bad actors exploiting the outrage amplified by the potential for paranoia surrounding the issue. Bad actors in Salem in the 1690's exploited outrage and potential for paranoia around witchcraft to take land from other people and take down rivals. Bad actors throughout history have leveled the charge of homosexuality, of having the "wrong" religion, of harboring the "wrong" politics, or of being from the "wrong" ethnic background to exploit outrage amplified by paranoia to take down rivals and to gain power through attention.
In 2019 most of those things no longer produce outrage like they did in the past, which is how things should be. Now, we are left with charges of racism and non-consensual sexual misconduct. Everyone agrees that those are bad. However, the potential for the outrage to be misused by bad actors is even greater as a result.
In 2019, the takeaway should be that great outrage should be met by great skepticism, and that important conclusions should be drawn in calmness and using evidence and logic.
> As disgusting as the thoughts and feelings might be, we shouldn't be trying to regulate what people think and feel inside their own heads. That's a level of tyranny that would be a living hell.
There is this thing called "criticism". Or "feedback". GP gave an example of it. If you cannot distinguish between that and "regulating what other people think and feel", anti-Semitism, homophobia and McCarthyism, then maybe you should rethink your own lack of perspective.
There is this thing called "criticism". Or "feedback".
When people are starting to go around and imagine what's going on in other people's heads, it's gone too far beyond "criticism" or "feedback."
If you cannot distinguish between that and "regulating what other people think and feel", anti-Semitism, homophobia and McCarthyism, then maybe you should rethink your own lack of perspective.
One horrible thing about being gay-bashed, and I have experienced this personally, is having other people talk about what's going on in your head, as if they know better than you. There's something particularly dehumanizing about it. Such things also come into sectarian bigotry and out-grouping. I've even experienced a bit of that from being raised Catholic, though that sort of thing was much rarer. Certainly McCarthyism involved a lot of this speculation about what's "really" going on in your head or other people's heads.
then maybe you should rethink your own lack of perspective.
Having been the recipient a lot of bigotry in my lifetime, one common pattern I've seen is people arrogantly, confidently, even self righteously jumping to conclusions about what's going on in my head while being spectacularly wrong. I think that's quite a profound perspective. It's also a perspective which is the foundation of caution against people who use phrases like "maybe you should rethink your own lack of perspective" in such a gaslighting fashion.
