Are you still grieving? You are not alone.

[CapnAwesome]

You risk being called a racist almost regardless of what you do and say nowadays. You have to acknowledge that it's offensive to call someone a racist. So it's a hard sell to say you are in favor of respectful dialog and yet also in favor of calling lots of people racists. I'm not a racist at all, yet I can hardly criticize Islam without being called a racist online, which offends me greatly. So you can't be in favor of respectful dialog and call people racist. It's not respectful dialog. That's why free speech and political correctness will always be at odds with one another.

Free speech = freedom from being persecuted or arrested for speaking freely. That's it. It is not freedom from criticism.

Have you ever thought about what you are saying that is causing people to call you racist? Consider that what you are saying may actually be racist.
That being said, you can't say anything without offending SOMEONE. That's just the way it works. In this age of rapid communication and information, that's only going to be amplified.

I'm not going to change being critical of Islam because people say it's racist. If I did that I'd never be able to say anything about Islam, people would just use the racism accusation to shut down any dialog that they don't like. Which is exactly what happens, in my opinion. I've never said anything racist about Islam or Muslims. For one thing, it's not a race of people. In fact it's probably the most multi-racial religion there is. So people are just using the racism card to try to end dialog. It's impossible to not offend people, like you said, which is part of why I think political correctness is pointless. It's a tool to end dialog with people.

I'm always in favor of opening up dialog with people. Yes, there is no legal consequences to that free speech, but trying to end dialog via political correctness is still an attack on free speech. Free speech is far more then just a law that is viewed with a strict definition, it's a guiding principle of free societies. Only with free speech can we discuss ideas, debate them and decide which are best. That's why I view free speech as so much more then just a law, it's what allows us to be Atheists in public, what allows us to think freely and what allows society to progress. So all attacks on free speech are not just legal ones. Anytime someone tries to shut down dialog (including by dismissing people as racists when you'd rather not listen to them) it's a small attack on free speech.

I think you and me agree that respectful dialog is the best, just we have different paths that we think is best.