If you skip the introduction and don’t watch the Q&A afterwards, the presentation is just under an hour. A very good watch, IMO. Interested in what people think.
categorizing everyone who sees things differently than you as a “bigot.” If you’ve ever seriously engaged with someone from the other side of the political aisle from you, and you aren’t being a closed-minded bigot yourself, you should be able to see that most people from your opposition aren’t cartoonish, two-dimensional villains…
During, and prior to the American civil war the people in favor of slavery were bigoted. During segregation the people abusing and mistreating people of color, were bigoted. During the civil rights movement, those against it were bigoted. During the gay marriage “debates”, those who were against equality were, by definition bigoted.
Some years back, I had a client who was referred for treatment after he was arrested for spray-painting a swastika in the elevator of his building. In my first few sessions with him, I asked him why he did it, and he explained that he simply wanted the Black people in his building to be afraid like he was of them. He further explained that while he was Puerto Rican, he was viewed as White because of his skin tone and features, and because of that he was relentlessly bullied by Black people, both in his building and at school, on racial grounds. He explained he was simply incredibly angry at the abuse he was receiving and wanted to make his abusers feel the same way he did.
Was that 17-year-old boy bigoted?
I put it to you that if you think you can simplify entire populations of people into a single, stereotypical, “evil” group without even trying to empathize with why they behave the way they do, you are no less of a bigot than you perceive them to be. Don’t talk to me about tolerance when you demonstrate none towards your enemy. There are true bigots in this world and they deserve no sympathy, but they are less than 1% of the population, and if you think otherwise you have some serious reflection to do.
Words have meaning, like it out not. I’ll stand behind what I’ve already said about bigots and not fall into your what-aboutisms.
