Re: Media editing
>The best way to fight extremists and their supporters is not to ban them and censor them ... but to drag them out into the daylight and force them to discuss their views with people outside their own little circle of haters.
Oh for a thousand upvotes to give.
Ok, maybe dragging them out forcibly is the wrong approach, but why not encourage discussion of various values? Our increasingly PC legal and social environment is so preoccupied with making sure someone's feelings are not upset that it forces the disengagement of those with less fashionable views from the rest of society. Forced to keep their beliefs locked away, they fester in the dark, reinforced by people who may be less extreme, but also have to insulate their beliefs from the tempering influence of the outside world.
This appears to be driven mostly be secularists trying to eradicate religion, sometimes overtly, sometimes under the guise of "equality for all". It is a misguided strategy. What we need to be able to do is to defend our values and our positions. We need not just dialogue, but debate. We need to evaluate Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, New Age and Secular positions and apply some critical thinking. Rather than name-calling, we should encourage people to elucidate why their position is the best and should be adopted. "Should we punch a Nazi?" "Should we eat pork?" Sometimes the answer will be, "because X said so," an we can give that the attention it deserves, but we should encourage, not stifle the debate. Name-calling and trying to exclude people by "no-platforming" is a sign of a cause without reason.
Sadly I don't think it will ever happen. Increasingly the debate platforms are advertising-funded and they thrive on eternal conflict and true-believers. As the protagonists become professional and/or commercial, their economic interests become aligned with with "keeping the conflict going." Even when they've won, they can't let the issues go.
The aim should be to win your opponent to your position, not to try to demonstrate a third party that you are more intelligent or pious than the other man. What we need is increased tolerance - the ability to disagree with people without trying to destroy them just because they hold "sub-optimal" beliefs.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
