cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40174373
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights who decades ago upset leaders in his own party when he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, suggested Democrats were in the wrong in allowing transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports.
This isn’t just an issue of the left (or of the right). It’s a human weakness and we all suffer from it. It is very difficult to examine your beliefs individually and most people use this as a mental shortcut.
It becomes harmful when it scales up to an entire group or community where you have people (with power, like moderators) who enforce dogma through excommunication (banning) or social shaming (downvotes, dogpiling, cyberbullying, etc). This creates large groups of people who believe most of the things, but are also afraid to speak out on the other topics for fear of reprisal and social stigma.
That isn’t healthy and it is up to every individual to speak out against dogma when they encounter it, especially when it is very unpopular to do so.
Most people are too scared and/or weak willed to speak up against something they might disagree with from their own “people” so to speak.
Fear of being abandoned or cast aside leaves a lot of people feeling trapped and that they have to go along with it.
It’s very unfortunate.
I grew up in a conservative christian family and I am the only leftist atheist.
I very much understand the consequences and dangers of speaking up against dogmatic communities and the difficulty in explaining ‘No, I’m still a good person, I just don’t believe that specific thing’ to people who see you as, literally, an agent of Satan. I’ve been physically assaulted, ridiculed, bullied, and excluded by people who let dogma lead their thinking.
Doing it online is a lot less intimidating some senses. However, there are a lot of young people who get trapped in these dogmatic communities and feel like there is something wrong with them because they have doubts.
To them I say: There’s nothing wrong with you, it is okay to ask questions, to disagree and to expect people to justify their beliefs. The people who are trying to bully you instead of convince you are the ones in the wrong, even if they are otherwise good people or you otherwise agree with them on other topics.
I agree 100%.