People can still have their own beliefs. Remember that gay rights was not on the radar for a very long time. Bashing people and assuming that they are eating food because they hate around 7% of the population is not getting any point across.
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Chick-fil-A as well. You may not agree with it but that’s not how humans work. Stop telling a company they’re bad for not having the same opinion as you. Isn’t that bullying? It’s definitely not democratic.
Long, apologies.
1. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion
Sure. I’m also entitled to judge people based on the opinions they hold (this is a subset of me being entitled to my opinion). So, for example, if you’re anti-gay, I’m going to think you’re, to at least some degree, an asshole. I’m entitled to that opinion. (side point: chick-fil-a is not a human)
2. Stop telling a company they’re bad
I’m not sure if this is an implied corollary to (1), that one’s entitled to an opinion but one is not entitled to voice it? If that’s the case, I disagree. If it’s not the case, I’m just gonna keep telling a company they’re bad.
3. Bullying
I personally believe bullying carries an element of the bully being in a position of power over the victim, otherwise it’s just resistance. I’m not more powerful than Chick-fil-A. If you still believe what I did is bullying, I’m happy to be a bully.
4. It’s not democratic
We’re not voting on anything, so I’m not really sure how this avoids being non-sequitur, but let’s run with it. Democracy is bolstered by free exchange of ideas especially those that have a political impact. If nobody was allowed to discuss politics at all then voting would basically be a random process (or based entirely on looks or just general charmingness etc). Telling people to stop criticising ideas they disagree with is the thing that is undemocratic. Yes, this paragraph is a “no, you are” and that’s not ideal but oh well.
5. You’re assuming they might just have coincidentally been eating at C-f-A
I’ll accept this one. I’m sure some of the people publicly voicing their support might were totally unaware of the homophobia issue and it was an unlucky coincidence for them. If one of these people is hurt by my criticism I apologise, they’re not my targets.
6. 7% of the population
I’m not sure what you meant by this statistic? It feels like a large percentage to me (if 7% of the population of a city were killed in a natural disaster that is huuuge, for example). If you meant to convey the largeness of that statistic, I don’t know why. If you’re after smallness, the only motivation I can guess is meant to imply it’s alright to hate on gays because there’s not many of them, in which case, whoa, gosh.
7. People can still have their own beliefs
This one’s kind of like #1 but there’s a side point that I want to address which is that beliefs can totally be harmful, especially if those beliefs are to do with an oppressed minority. If you believe “blacks are inferior” you’re not gonna put up much of a fight for them if they’re banned from certain restaurants, for example.
I’m allowed to criticise people’s beliefs, and really if it’s a harmful belief then one could argue I have a moral obligation to do so.
The whole reason behind the It Gets Better campaign is because a whole bunch of queer teens were committing suicide. Like - it’s not a magical-happiness-promise campaign. It’s a please-please-don’t-all-kill-yourselves campaign.
Why were/are queer teens committing suicide en masse? Because American (and Australian and a lot of other places) culture is an incredibly toxic place to grow up queer. Even if you’re not a direct victim of bullying in a shoved-into-a-locker kind of way, there’s an implicit mood of “you are not welcome here” that’s brought about by gay marriage being illegal and things like large corporations making anti-gay statements and then receiving huge outpourings of popular support.
And there’s the problem - everyone is entitled to contribute to a culture of oppression. Everyone’s totally within their rights to hold harmful beliefs. Everyone is allowed to make public statements that bolster and support norms that result in people feeling unwelcomed by their own society to the degree that they’d take their own life.
You’re entitled to champion this entitlement.
I’m entitled to think you’re horrible for doing so.
(Source: leobear73)
