Like so many liberals, I have started to self-censor to avoid the wrath of my politically purist friends

That statement blew me away. I realized I had done the same things so many times online. I refrain from posting a comment for fear of angering people. I refrain from sharing an article for the same reason. And I find I'm doing it more and more and more.

And it isn't to avoid angering people I disagree with. It's to avoid angering people I normally agree with.

I believe more in free speech than I do in “safe spaces” in universities. I do not think people with unpleasant opinions should be prosecuted, or even denied a platform, unless they directly threaten to incite violence or lawbreaking. I do not think “political correctness” is a myth – although I would prefer the term groupthink – but that it is a system of thought that has a real impact on public policy and institutional behaviour.

Liberal ideals, to be sure, but heaven forbid you try to defend the rights of people deemed by the herd to be racist, misogynistic or any other label. It's as though standing up for an ideal means you're a secret sympathizer - trying to provide cover for horrible opinions by not trying to silence them.

This is what the author describes as "assumption creep".



This shame comes from the phenomenon of what I call assumption creep – the assumption that if you believe one thing you probably believe another thing, which you are hiding. If you believe women behave differently in the real world from men, whether for cultural or biological reasons, you also (secretly) believe women are more suited for domestic life than careers. That if you believe religion, including Islam, is the source of much conflict in the world you also (secretly) believe all Muslims are potential terrorists and you (secretly) dislike immigrants to boot. That if you have a particular attachment to your country, defined as England rather than Britain, you keep a St George’s flag and a knuckle-duster in the back of your drawer. These supposed secret assumptions are the primary source of censure from leftwing critics of the “paradoxical voice” – which is the term I use to describe the thinking of “non-pure” leftwing thinkers. Assumption creep may be accurate in some cases. We all know about the “I’m not a racist, but … ” arguments. But more often than not, it simply isn’t true. To insist otherwise is lazy. It’s just a way of making sure people who have opinions contrary to your own stay safely in their boxes – the boxes marked “bad people”. To actually address the issues is thus avoided, because who needs to debate with a bad person? It’s enough just to condemn them.

And (here comes the stoning) I see this happening quite a lot on the Daily Kos.

How many times have you seen the following things:

- Threats of HRs for posting an article that doesn't line up with someone's views or disagreeing with them in the comments.

- Character Assassination by digging through someone's comment history and pointing to anything that let's them be dismissed out of hand.

- Smugly bringing up the site's mission statement (Electing Democrats) as justification for dog piling onto someone (a reason curiously never brought up on WoW diaries, Furry diaries, or any other diary that isn't inherently political).

I'm asking you to look at the article in its entirety and seriously consider what it has to say.

Here's the link again - http://www.theguardian.com/...

I'm worried that we're becoming exactly what we hate and doing so without realizing it. That we're, to use a pop culture reference, turning into Cersi Lannister - people who view dissent as disloyalty.

Have any of you felt the same way?

Wow. What a day. This diary hit the rec list in an hour and, as of now, has over 700 comments.

I want to take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt thanks.

Thanks to the majority of people who kept it civil. You guys are great.

Thanks to the people who understood what I was trying to say. It means a great deal.

But most of all, I want to thank the people who completely missed the point and managed, in the span of less than 12 hours, to hit nearly every note of what I was complaining about.

It started with a request for an example of what I considered a "radical liberal". I gave one off the top of my head.

What then proceeded was one baseless accusation after another.

Suddenly, I'm a secret bigot for not rushing to prove my liberal cred by denouncing everything Sam Harris has ever said. Oh, and I endorse him and his defense of torture. 'cause, if I'm already a bigot, why not, right?

And then, having all the "evidence" needed, I was determined to be ideologically impure and pronounced "not a liberal".

I didn't think assumption creep worked that goddamn fast. Clearly I was wrong.

Convicted of thought crimes in only a couple hours. Damn.

So, really, thank you. You couldn't have illustrated my point better.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my doom fortress inside an active volcano.

He-Man doesn't kill himself, you know.

Aaaaaand this is where it has to stop. For me at least.

We've passed the 1000 comment mark. What a ride it's been.

However, I'm getting into heated arguments with people and posting things without clarification (and without thinking) which is quickly being used against me. (Why this site doesn't have a temporary edit function escapes me.)

I'm turning the diary over to the rest of you.

Have fun with it. I'm going outside. @_@ I need some fresh air.