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Comment by pliny | Hacker News Reader

Is making jokes and enjoying the benefit of the doubt a privilege reserved for people with the correct political opinions?

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Here’s the thing: you don’t get the benefit of the doubt when you hold opinions that have been demonstratably wrong for 40+ years.

It counts as evidence of your poor judgement and terrible moral compass. Especially when you espouse other opinions that are toxic trash and are highly correlated to the previous ones.

The benefit of doubt has been long used up on these topics. If you hold these opinions today as an adult you made a concious choice to be a bigot.

You're just confirming what the parent says: only people with enlightened, progressive ideas can say whatever they want.

In their company, sure. Try being a liberal at a Trump rally.

Things may have gotten worse, but there was never a time when you could freely say without consequences whatever you thought in whichever social group.

It may have felt like that if you were part of a privileged group and did not stray too far.

My question was normative, I suppose another way to rephrase it is "Do you want to live in a world where only people with the correct opinions can make jokes and enjoy the benefit of the doubt? If not, why are you enforcing social norms you don't endorse?"

The choice isn't automatic: abritinthebay apparently does endorse a hostile interpretation of any speech by people who "hold opinions that have been demonstratably wrong for 40+ years" and "made a concious choice to be a bigot", which I believe makes both comedy and nuance impossible, but at least they're honest about it.

Not at all. You appear to be trying to fit my words to your conclusion.

I’m saying demonstratably bad positions will be called out as such.

Doesn’t matter if they are or are from progressive people. So please stuff that strawman somewhere else.

Yes? In certain circles you could get off with saying just about anything about the current US administration however in poor taste it might be. In those same circles, I wouldn't recommend off-color criticism of many people on the other end of the political spectrum.

ADDED: For those who apparently disagree with me, does anyone seriously dispute that jokes of a certain slant are going to be acceptable in some circles and considered in very poor taste in others?

It was a normative question. The social norm exists, but I wish it didn't, so I won't enforce it and I'll encourage other people not to enforce it.

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