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It's not costless, but is absolutely a requirement for hosting a space with diverse viewpoints that people treat each other politely. It's a contradiction to want a place with diverse viewpoints, but also a place that wants to accommodate Englishmen who just can't help themselves when they see an Irishman.
Why yes, what counts as a weapon isn't a well-defined problem. I'm sure even Stephen Hawking could assault you, by the legal definition, if only by hawking a lob of phlegm in your general direction.
Consider me the equivalent of a Second Amendment advocate who is OK with concealed carry of pistols on public grounds, but not the private ownership of nuclear weapons.
No matter what you say or do, a non-zero number of people will consider it hostile. Inaction is no shield, wasn't "silence is violence" a popular shibboleth for a bit?
This is still a matter of active debate within the mods, so I am ready to reverse my stance and swallow my minor discontent if necessary. But everything we do is subjective, unavoidably so, and I'm trying to find a way of moderating things that isn't actively contradictory or against the way it was done before.
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What's your assessment of the word "Homophobe"?
Bad word. "Doesn't like gay people" communicates the exact same thing but with less heat.
Why not "homosexual-critical", or some other more neutral construction? Do you think most "homophobes" don't like gay people as people, as opposed to objecting to some action or aspect common within the gay community?
Should we ban the use of "homophobe" here? After all, you claim that banning such words is "absolutely a requirement for hosting a space with diverse viewpoints that treat each other politely".
It’s doesn’t matter what I think. “The group of people who don’t like gay people” is a valid set of people to talk about. Referencing that group is allowed, and people are welcome to argue how large it is.
Referencing that group in a deliberately inflammatory way should not be allowed.
I’m sure there are awkward edge cases you can catch me up with, but the existence of edge cases doesn’t justify ignoring the non-edge cases.
“Tranny” exists as an inflammatory way to say “transgender person”. It is not an edge case and not defensible.
The people who use it are using it to demonstrate their disdain for transpeople which is not “writing like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion”.
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