PSA: Hate Speech, rule 7

[FrustratedFool]

I'm glad there's a strict policy on such things here.  I've been on many forums where there wasn't and it quickly becomes messy, and ends up doing harm (I think).

Nonsense! What a fragile eggshell mind people have evolved into.

It's not so much about the individual emotional distress the use of hatespeech causes, as the cumulative social effect of allowing free reign to use slurs, debunked studies, inflammatory rhetoric, hatespeech etc. on groups already experiencing increased danger, threat, political oppression, social ostracisation, health impacts and so on.

You using slurs against a trans person may or may not cause that particular person distress. But a forum allowing free for all use of transphobic hatespeech will likely contribute to an atmosphere that pushes transfolks out of the space and also contribute to their risks, harm and oppression in the wider culture in RL.

In short, it does more harm than good and has little to do with fragility.