SSM and the Offense I Don’t See

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Expired Content: I may no longer hold the views espoused in this post. As a matter of integrity this link remains alive, but time has passed and my thoughts on this subject may have developed significantly.

Further to my ongoing reflections on the Same Sex Marriage debate.

I’ve had some conversations with a few people recently in which the issue of vitriol and offensive rhetoric came up.  I don’t mean the stuff in public – that generally gets talked about in public and people are simply shown for who they are.

What I mean is the private vitriol.  And it concerns me.

I wonder if those who may have been on the receiving end of some blatantly hateful and homophobic remark or action or communication also wonder.  Do they wonder…

a) whether or not I agree with that hateful/homophobic remark, just because I am on “that side” of the vote; or

b) whether or not I know anything about the hateful/homophobic remark and have condoned that action.

The simple answer of course, to both questions is “no.”

BUT the fact that I don’t know anything about the hateful/homophobic remark means that I am not able to combat it, condemn it, or deal appropriately and adequately with the perpetrator of it.

I wonder, perhaps, if the best way forward is to encourage those who have been harmed or hurt by such vitriol to find an avenue to bring the hatefulness in private into the public in some way.  Only then can we understand what is happening, and only then can we actually act against such behaviour.

I know that this blog doesn’t have a huge readership.  But if you have come across this post, and have a story to share about private vitriol, I would value hearing that story.  Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.

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CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 SSM and the Offense I Don’t See by Will Briggs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.