I've been involved in a few kerfuffles over the last few days over diary entries (not mine) that have been perceived as racist and homophobic. It is very strange and, although it's likely that it happens every day, it's new to me in my Diaryland world. I know a lot of people who have diaries on here are very young and I also know that a lot of people have had harder lives than me. And I'm hardly sitting back in my white, straight, middle-class, comfortable existence and pronouncing judgement. But I really like to let people know that there are other points of view out there and I would like to make people think. Almost nothing is achieved by attacking people or name calling. And, thankfully, this is a place I can express myself through writing. I have always been able to make my points better when I have time to think and re-read my words. Which is why I leave notes for people I disagree with, like everyone else. What surprises me, though, is that the medium of writing doesn't seem to make some other people stop and think as much as it makes me stop and think. Which is good to know, too. Well. This entry isn't really saying anything and I don't really know what they answer is.

See, at the end of the day, I DO want people to listen to me thoughtfully, mull it over, and then say I'm right (even if this means changing their entire belief system). The reality is that Phyntosia was right. I (and most people who think like me) do want to cultivate the kind of world where intolerance is not tolerated. You know, without censorship or trampling on First Amendment rights or legislating ideas and thoughts. Yeah, like in Utopia. I don't want to make people think a certain way, I just want them to realize that I'm right on their own. That's not too much to ask, is it? I don't mean to be flip about bigotry. But we live in a world of contradictions and hypocrisy is not only inevitable, it's damn near a requirement. I can't make people stop being racist or sexist or homophobic or classist or ageist or a million other things I think are wrong. Which is why I think anti-discriminatory laws are good. And affirmative action. And stuff like that. They aren't perfect and everyone knows that there are ways around them, but I think old rich white men (at least the ones who run the U.S.)have shown that they have to be forced to do the right thing. It seems obvious that Dubya and everyone like him repeatedly refuse to come down on the side of social conscience. If they did, we wouldn't need environmental codes and minimum wage laws or an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. I don't want to canonize all people of color or all women or all homosexuals or anything. I just didn't realize that, in 2003, people still need to be reminded that old, rich, white men are still in charge.