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Comment by willnonya | Hacker News Reader

So, youre asserting that democracy works vest when disfavored minorities are suppressed?

How do you imagine the civil rights movement would have worked out if unfavorable positions of the time were suppressed?

How would that work for LGBQ rights?

There is no value in suppressing bad views. Exposing them let's them be recognized for what they are. Suppressing them causes them to grow and fester in the shadows.

What people really fear is that people will not be intelligent enough to discern these bad opinions, that is an entirely different issue.

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> So, youre asserting that democracy works vest when disfavored minorities are suppressed

Antisemites aren't a disfavored minority, the Jews they're hating on are.

> How do you imagine the civil rights movement would have worked out if unfavorable positions of the time were suppressed?

Hating on a group of people for who they are isn't an unfavourable position that merits being protected. Or compared to a civil rights movement.

> Exposing them let's them be recognized for what they are

> What people really fear is that people will not be intelligent enough to discern these bad opinions, that is an entirely different issue.

How did that work, historically? It didn't, and still doesn't today - see Trump, Brexit, Orbán. It's not an entirely different issue, it's the same problem - not only is a group of people directly hurt by allowing those who abuse them keep doing so, but others might get impressed for whatever reason and join the hating group's ranks.

> Antisemites aren't a disfavored minority, the Jews they're hating on are.

Are you saying that:

1. the majority of the population of <Western European Country X> are antisemites

2. antisemites aren't disfavored

because I would say that both of these are false. Few people are antisemites, and antisemites are strongly disfavored to the point of having their speech made illegal - and "punch a nazi" is a meme.

Punch a Nazi isn’t just a meme, it’s a rule to live by

Right, which would imply that Nazis are pretty damn strongly disfavored.

Being a Nazi isn't a protected characteristic, nor should it be. As commonly understood, a marginalized minority involves traits someone is born with and cannot change, that do not harm others. Being an asshole doesn't make you a marginalized minority, it just makes you an asshole. You're welcome to disagree with this take. Samuel Alito thought KKK members deserved protection in a recent hypothetical that had him laughing about black kkk kids.

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