There’s a difference between judging people on a category they don’t choose vs. a set of beliefs they choose to follow.
If I tried to claim all brown-eyed people are evil, I’d be bigoted because eye color does not determine who you are as a person. But if I claimed that all members of the Puppy Kickers Club are evil because they literally believe in kicking puppies and require doing so frequently as a requirement for membership, then my claim is valid.
Isn’t that a distinction without a difference? If it’s acceptable to judge people based on group membership because it aligns with behavior, people will ascribe abhorrent behavior to group membership. “Oh, you’re a (insert religious group here)? Those people literally rape children!”
There’s a difference between judging people on a category they don’t choose vs. a set of beliefs they choose to follow.
If I tried to claim all brown-eyed people are evil, I’d be bigoted because eye color does not determine who you are as a person. But if I claimed that all members of the Puppy Kickers Club are evil because they literally believe in kicking puppies and require doing so frequently as a requirement for membership, then my claim is valid.
Isn’t that a distinction without a difference? If it’s acceptable to judge people based on group membership because it aligns with behavior, people will ascribe abhorrent behavior to group membership. “Oh, you’re a (insert religious group here)? Those people literally rape children!”