Suppose I’m talking with a group of loose acquaintances, and one of them says (in full seriousness), “I’m not homophobic. It’s not that I’m afraid of gays, I just think that they shouldn’t exist.”
It seem to me that it is appropriate for me to say, “Hey man, that’s not ok to say.” It might be that a number of other people in the conversation would back me up (or it might be that they they defend the first guy), but there wasn’t common knowledge of that fact beforehand.
In some sense, this is a bid to establish a new norm, by pushing a the private opinions of a number of people into common knowledge. It also seems to me to be a virtuous thing to do in many situations.
(Noting that my response to the guy is not: “Hey, you can’t do that, because I get to decide what people do around here.” It’s “You can’t do that, because it’s bad” and depending on the group to respond to that claim in one way or another.)
What’s the difference?
Suppose I’m talking with a group of loose acquaintances, and one of them says (in full seriousness), “I’m not homophobic. It’s not that I’m afraid of gays, I just think that they shouldn’t exist.”
It seem to me that it is appropriate for me to say, “Hey man, that’s not ok to say.” It might be that a number of other people in the conversation would back me up (or it might be that they they defend the first guy), but there wasn’t common knowledge of that fact beforehand.
In some sense, this is a bid to establish a new norm, by pushing a the private opinions of a number of people into common knowledge. It also seems to me to be a virtuous thing to do in many situations.
(Noting that my response to the guy is not: “Hey, you can’t do that, because I get to decide what people do around here.” It’s “You can’t do that, because it’s bad” and depending on the group to respond to that claim in one way or another.)