Quora is a very strange and sad story that illustrates the social acceptance of homophobic bigotry, Sherry Kappel. The site is jam packed with writing that morally condemns queer people. I’ve actually had people respond to me there citing biblical passages calling for death to homosexuals. Those responses were allowed to stand. Every time.
“Reasoned” arguments justifying religious condemnation of queer people are published every day. A Google search would be quite instructive.
Yet, my consistent observation that homophobic bigotry is morally wrong — is evil — got me thrown off the site. My post about Act Up’s struggle against the Catholic Archdiocese of New York in the 1990s is a reproduction of my original article on Quora.
Quora deleted that article a couple of weeks before my ban and told me that they classify it as “hate speech.”
Quora is a perfect example of the abuse of tolerance that philosopher Karl Popper pointed out in his writings on the Paradox of Tolerance. Unlimited tolerance, he observed, must lead to intolerant societies.
Quora finds itself defending and succoring homophobic bigotry in the name of Popper-istic faux tolerance. The double standard is clear. Nobody on Quora can get away with publishing defenses of racism the way people get away every day publishing defenses of homophobic bigotry.
I don’t know if the management team is simply misled or if they’re motivated by financial factors — wishing not to alienate religious people.
Whatever the reason, they’ve lost their moral way.
Jim
