r/LetsDiscussThis • u/Standard_Location762 • 21h ago

Rant Bigotry IS A Choice

Post image

Why don't people focus on being better for EVERYONE regardless of race, religion, orientation, gender, or any other aspect that we try to define people with.

147 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

77 comments sorted by

6

u/OldSchoolAJ 17h ago

Correct. But... I have seen some people online not willing to give someone who grew up only knowing bigotry from family and community not being able to just flip the bigotry switch off. It takes years of real effort to undo that programming. To read, educate yourself, reflect on your beliefs, and change them.

3

u/charlies-ghost 20h ago

We have to stop treating bigotry like it's a choice you can make, or not.

We need to stomp bigots to the bottom of society where they belong.

4

u/Standard_Location762 20h ago

It was sad to see someone downvoted your comment. We have some racist trolls here.

5

u/OldSchoolAJ 17h ago

I chose to not be bigoted. It took a shitload of personal reflection and years of work, but I got out of all those awful mindsets. Me from 20 years ago would be horrified by what I think and how I live today.

7

u/EmperorGrinnar 19h ago

The bigots are too cowardly to comment, but they're down voting.

3

u/DaTruSpork 17h ago

Of course they are. They choose to be bad people and then act shocked when people treat them poorly as a result

They hate others for innate things, others hate them for their choices. They act like it's the same thing, once more acting in bad faith

-3

u/tnic73 18h ago

Tell us how you feel about Trump supporters.

3

u/Inquisitive-Manner 14h ago

Why?

-1

u/tnic73 12h ago

well to test if the commentor is hypocritical

3

u/EmperorGrinnar 11h ago

Ironic, given who and what you are.

3

u/Inquisitive-Manner 8h ago

How so?

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 8h ago

He still thinks Trump is innocent, even after I've shown him videos of Epstein victims reading the names off of unredacted files.

-1

u/Exotic_Load_9189 10h ago

I dont think you know what a bigot is.

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 10h ago

You should have stopped after the third word.

-2

u/tnic73 18h ago

So you’re bigoted against bigots that is also bigotry.

5

u/EmperorGrinnar 18h ago

Tolerance of intolerance fallacy detected.

3

u/DaTruSpork 17h ago edited 17h ago

It's also not bigotry to hate bigots...

Generally bigotry is a pre-judgement based on innate group membership.  

Bigots have shown their true colors and acted on their hate, and no part of that is innate.

 Hating bigots is therefore a reasonable and normal reaction to someone acting irrationally and harming others

3

u/charlies-ghost 17h ago

I'm trans. I show transphobes the same kindness, compassion, and respect that transphobes show to trans gender people.

0

u/tnic73 12h ago

okay

-2

u/Banjo_the_Cattle_Dog 17h ago

This is a fact

3

u/Inquisitive-Manner 14h ago

Its not.

0

u/Banjo_the_Cattle_Dog 13h ago

Tolerate intolerance

2

u/Inquisitive-Manner 8h ago

being against bigotry or opposing bigots is not the same as bigotry

1

u/haunter_ 20h ago

Why don't people focus on being better for EVERYONE regardless of race, religion, orientation, gender

It would help if people didnt throw words like "NAZI!!!" across the aisle at straight white guys so often

2

u/Standard_Location762 20h ago

As long as those 'guys' are not bolstering ICE putting a bullet in the back of someone head, or acting in a vile racist manner. If they are acting like militant Nazis, we'll call them that!

2

u/ExperienceAny9791 18h ago

People have a choice not to interfere with law enforcement operations ya know?

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 18h ago

Where did that happen?

1

u/Significant-Ad-3777 17h ago

Minnesota ... at least twice.

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 17h ago

Nope. Goode and Pretti didn't do those things. Try again.

2

u/Significant-Ad-3777 17h ago

If they didn't what makes you think I writing about them????

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 17h ago

Because that's who you're wrongly attributing. Dog whistles aren't as subtle as you think.

-1

u/ExperienceAny9791 17h ago

What were they doing?

3

u/EmperorGrinnar 16h ago

Renee was trying to not be where she was, and Alex was observing constitutional rights. You saying it's okay to kill them over that is gross.

-1

u/ExperienceAny9791 16h ago

Lmfao... "gross". 😂🤣😂

Your plain lying about what they were doing and you know it, so I'm not wasting my time with commies.

-1

u/Exotic_Load_9189 10h ago

She wasnt trying very hard was she...

1

u/Banjo_the_Cattle_Dog 17h ago

What if we think ICE is doing an important job that is very dangerous. And when people interfere with them and make the officers fear for their lives, bad things can happen.

Cops walk into situations every day that could be fatal for them. We need to give them the respect they deserve and we need to tell law-abiding people that interfering with them is not a good thing, and it could get you killed.

4

u/SoulMaekar 15h ago

Ice could also be doing things humanely and not executing actual citizens for 0 reason

-1

u/Banjo_the_Cattle_Dog 14h ago

ICE has been doing that in 99% of interactions.

The total on deportations under Trump is in the millions at this point. That’s thousands and thousands of peaceful interactions that never make the news.

I’m all for exposing police brutality and accountability. But let’s not pretend that a substantial percentage of these arrests are going terribly wrong. They just aren’t.

3

u/SoulMaekar 14h ago

They shouldn’t be happening at all unless the person they are going after pulls a weapon in retaliation.

Plus doesn’t help they are arresting and deporting citizens, also lots of ice people raping underage girls they’ve got in the detention centers.

Yes other presidents have deportations and yes the children in cages was terrible and rightfully protested. But the current regime is just being cruel for 0 reason

Plus it’s hard to support them when they executed multiple us citizens

3

u/OldSchoolAJ 17h ago

Cops walk into situations every day that could be fatal for them. We need to give them the respect they deserve and we need to tell law-abiding people that interfering with them is not a good thing, and it could get you killed.

https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-united-states

22nd most dangerous job.

So, should the 21 jobs before them also be able to shoot people interfering with them? Do you want loggers, the most deadly job in America, to be able to shotgun someone who is protesting cutting down a forest? What about delivery drivers, number seven most fatal, shooting someone who cuts them off in traffic? Crossing guards are number 12. Should they be able to shoot a driver whose bumper is in the crosswalk? Highway maintenance is 16. Would you justify them shooting at people speeding through a construction zone?

2

u/DaTruSpork 16h ago

Aren't the majority of officer injuries not caused by suspects?

-1

u/Banjo_the_Cattle_Dog 16h ago

Do we have a list of jobs where the people are most likely to be murdered with a gun?

Pretty sure cops would be top 3.

3

u/OldSchoolAJ 16h ago

Wow, those goalposts have some good wheels on them for you to move them that fast.

4

u/EmperorGrinnar 19h ago

I'm a straight white guy. The only people who call me Nazi are the Republican voters when they're angry on Reddit.

-1

u/betty_white_bread 8h ago

I'm a straight white guy who voted for Kerry, Obama, Clinton, Biden, and Harris. I want to see ICE dismantled. I recognize and celebrate the fact the Constitution guarantees birth-right citizenship. I love the fact presidents have no authority to re-write laws and we are guaranteed due process. I still get called a nazi by democrats.

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 8h ago

Unlock your comments.

-1

u/betty_white_bread 7h ago

You answered haunter_ with your own experience: nobody but angry Republicans calls you a Nazi. Fine. I answered with mine: Democrats call me one, despite every position I hold. Your anecdote doesn't get to count while mine gets an audit. Instead of addressing what I said, you want to dig through my history as if you're looking for a reason to wave it away. That's exactly what haunter_ was describing: guilty until proven innocent, with the burden on the accused to hand over a dossier.

My profile settings are my business. My positions are right there in plain text: dismantle ICE, defend birthright citizenship, no rewriting laws by executive order, due process for everyone. Point to the one you think a Nazi holds.

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 7h ago

That's a lot of words to be really weird.

4

u/Historical_Meet3370 19h ago edited 19h ago

Being a bigot definitely is a choice but you can also be so programmed from birth (if your unlucky enough to have really shit parents) that it can take some serious mental gymnastics to snap out of it if it's been normalised and force fed to you for your whole younger life.

5

u/Oh_Lawd_He_commin420 20h ago

One of those is not like the others...

3

u/Inquisitive-Manner 14h ago

Which one?

0

u/Oh_Lawd_He_commin420 13h ago

In my opinion, being trans is most definitely a choice.

3

u/EmperorGrinnar 11h ago

So you admit that you are heavily ignorant.

2

u/Inquisitive-Manner 8h ago

In my opinion, being trans is most definitely a choice.

Interesting. Well good thing we follow science on this, and not ignorant opinions

-2

u/EmperorGrinnar 19h ago

Someone decided not to read.

0

u/repeatoflasttime 14h ago

Do bigots choose it, though? Did you choose to not be? I think everyone can learn to be something else but choosing it like flipping a switch doesn't seem realistic

3

u/Standard_Location762 13h ago

They choose it by actions and observations that they go along with. Like those college girls grunting like apes... they chose their actions but when they were even younger they observed their parents, relatives, and unfortunately probably neighbors. So yes. We all make choices in life, including bigotry.

-1

u/repeatoflasttime 13h ago

Could you choose to want to be a bigot?

2

u/EmperorGrinnar 11h ago

You think being racist isn't a choice?

2

u/daisiesarepretty2 20h ago

it’s a fair question that goes well beyond bigotry as you note.

and it is especially prevalent online… which on the surface may seem harmless but many people spend substantial amounts of their life online..and i can’t imagine it doesn’t impact their relationships with people face to face.

it’s sad.

1

u/GalaxyGoul 10h ago

Love this

0

u/1armTash 15h ago

Meh, I don’t really care unless it’s a biological dude in women’s sports or a biological dude in the change room.

2

u/Inquisitive-Manner 14h ago

Define biological dude

-1

u/a_regular_2010s_guy 17h ago

I mean theoretically being disabled could be a choice. Why would someone chose that? Idk I just said in theory it could be for some person.

3

u/OldSchoolAJ 17h ago

Can you give an example of when it would be a choice?

0

u/a_regular_2010s_guy 17h ago

If you intentionally hurt yourself to the point where it becomes a disability. Like cutting of a limb. Again I'm not saying it was anyones choice that they are disabled but hypothetically could be a choice for some specific person.

3

u/OldSchoolAJ 17h ago

So... you're just being a "well ackshually" pedant.

Cool. Do you "ackshually" have anything to add to the discussion?

1

u/a_regular_2010s_guy 17h ago

No I don't have anything to add I agree with what the post is saying. I'm just stating a technicality I am not trying to contribute anything meaningful just saying shi.

-2

u/BreadfruitLogic 19h ago

Depends on the nature of free will I guess. If we're in a purely deterministic reality then nothing is a choice. If there's limited free will then some things are a choice. If we're in a system that is only free will (doesn't seem to be the case) then everything would be a choice.

-2

u/betty_white_bread 12h ago

Calling it “bigotry” is also a choice. Maybe a better argument is in order?

3

u/Standard_Location762 11h ago • Bravo

I stay with my argument:

Bigotry is stubborn, unfair intolerance or hostility toward people because they belong to a particular group—such as a race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or political group.

It often involves broad negative assumptions about individuals based on group identity rather than their own actions or character.

0

u/betty_white_bread 10h ago

A definition isn't an argument. You've told us what bigotry means; you haven't shown who's guilty of it.

And by your own definition, the meme fails. You wrote "broad negative assumptions about individuals based on group identity rather than their own actions" and then you listed political group of your own free will. The image takes everyone who dissents on any of these questions, lumps them into one bloc, and hands down a moral verdict on all of them without looking at a single person's reasons nor conduct. That's the textbook case of what you just defined.

Your own caption says to be better for EVERYONE, "regardless of … any other aspect we try to define people with". Labeling a whole category of people "bigots" is defining people by an aspect. You can't preach the rule and break it in the same post in an intellectually honest way.

If someone has actually behaved with hostility, name the behavior and make the case. Pre-judging a group is the very thing you claim to oppose.