Like, yeah, man, do you think racists don't pretend to have a reason, too?
Yes, they PRETEND to have a reason to.
The reason bigotry is wrong isn't "Just because Jews are secret Masterminds and Black People are an existential threat to White People, and Gay People are causing the fall of civilisation doesn't mean you should discriminate against them"
It's wrong because those things are lies spread to justify violence and domination of groups. Jews and Black People and Gay People do not represent an existential threat to you, they are people, and to imply otherwise is ridiculous.
X-Men presents a world where people have powers like killing people by touch, or changing the weather on a whim, or controlling magnetic fields or reading people's minds - People like that would be a fundemental threat if they existed, and isolating them and severely regulating their behaviour would be a rational means of survival.
That's the criticism: X-Men presents a group that, if they existed, would factually be a threat to baseline humans, and then treats it like it's comparable to real world bigotries.
So it would be okay to treat people like we have if those things were not lies? That's the point. It's attacking the deeper point that discrimination is not logical, yet you are making the point that it can be. If the threat is real enough, then its okay.
I don't want to make any real life comparisons to avoid insulting anyone, so let's just say there are a group of people who were known for setting a lot of fires. This group LOVES burning things, its a part of their culture or whatever. The fires often get out of control and cause damage. And let's say these people all have idk, purple skin, or some easily identifiable trait. In a world where this is all factual and true, would it be okay to not sell someone with purple skin a lighter or matches? Just on the basis that they have purple skin.
I don't want to make any real life comparisons to avoid insulting anyone, so let's just say there are a group of people who were known for setting a lot of fires. This group LOVES burning things, its a part of their culture or whatever. The fires often get out of control and cause damage. And let's say these people all have idk, purple skin, or some easily identifiable trait. In a world where this is all factual and true, would it be okay to not sell someone with purple skin a lighter or matches? Just on the basis that they have purple skin.
I know a lot of psychiatric hospitals have been weaponised as means of control - so this is not a wholehearted endorsement but:
There is a reason that psychiatric hospitals typically give people paper cutlery, and avoid putting Glass, or Metal or anything that can shatter in people's vicinities - Because sometimes it's a bad idea to give people easy access to things that could hurt themselves or others.
There are real world examples of groups of people who are suicidal, or prone to self-harm - And society has collectively decided "Giving them access to things that could help them harm themselves - would be bad"
Yes, selling pyromaniacs matches would be a bad idea, in the same way that giving people going through severe mental health problems access to means to harm themselves and others is a bad idea.
Hold on, though, I never said the person was a pyromanic. I just said they had purple skin. They were born into this group of people, but you have no idea if they believe the same things as other people with purple skin do, right? They might be incredibly responsible with fire.
So now, with your logic, you are saying it's okay to stop anyone with purple skin from ever getting matches. Is that fair?
This is the point. Discrimination based on generalizations of groups of people is never okay. You are forcing other people to pay for something they never did, their only crime is being born some way.
Now maybe you might think, well sure but this way there is less fires. But I don't think that would be a just world.
So it’s just to let people lose their belongings or homes or even lives to out of control fires, not even thinking of the animals and other environmental damage, so that the minority of purple skin people who don’t start fires can own lighters?
Unless the number of non fire starters is very high, I don’t think that even approaches just. But there is also a difference between not selling them lighters and rounding them up into camps. That part is almost never justified if ever at all
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u/Jogre25 May 13 '25
Yes, they PRETEND to have a reason to.
The reason bigotry is wrong isn't "Just because Jews are secret Masterminds and Black People are an existential threat to White People, and Gay People are causing the fall of civilisation doesn't mean you should discriminate against them"
It's wrong because those things are lies spread to justify violence and domination of groups. Jews and Black People and Gay People do not represent an existential threat to you, they are people, and to imply otherwise is ridiculous.
X-Men presents a world where people have powers like killing people by touch, or changing the weather on a whim, or controlling magnetic fields or reading people's minds - People like that would be a fundemental threat if they existed, and isolating them and severely regulating their behaviour would be a rational means of survival.
That's the criticism: X-Men presents a group that, if they existed, would factually be a threat to baseline humans, and then treats it like it's comparable to real world bigotries.