Quote:
Originally Posted by The Real BigGuy
There is no right side/wrong side just differences of opinion. . . . We shouldn’t denigrate someone for their opinion, just accept that people are different and think differently.
|
I'm afraid I can't agree with this. It's a utopian "play nice in the sandbox" wish that doesn't hold up in many times and places. There are some actions of individuals and governments---what they do and what they say---that violate basic principles of human decency, democracy, justice, truthfulness, etc. I think we have a responsibility to call out those behaviors. History is full of examples of when people failed to speak up and atrocities occurred, as in the Holocaust. In the Holocaust, in the Cambodian genocide, in so many other atrocities,
there absolutely was a right side and a wrong side, not merely a difference of opinion. My personal belief is that we are now in such a time with respect to issues like COVID-19, the climate crisis, and the distribution of wealth. Who are you going to respect and who are you going to choose to be---the person who says nothing when things are clearly wrong, the person who has a loud, aggressive opinion but is unwilling to get the facts before forming it, or the person who states a firm opinion based on a long search for values and facts? I'd like to be in the third camp.