@Vilageidiotx These are traits of fascism. I don't neccesarily dislike these traits but yes they are traits. However you should mind that, if the roles were reversed, and the Axis had won, we'd likely be saying the same about the Americans, who had interment camps and killed off German PoW's too..

It's all perspective, don't you think. :D

@The Spectre I've always found gay pride parade's to be stupid. I mean, I don't have anything against it, if people wanna dance around on a boat/float wearing revealing clothes then be my guest.

But it doesn't do anything to raise awareness that LGB's are normal people. In fact, when you promote your sexuality as just sexuality then people will only see you as a sexuality and not as a person. I think gay pride parade's are the worst way to spread awareness because not only are you enforcing your sexuality on passer by's who might not want to see it (not because they are anti-gay, but just because people don't have an interest in half naked men dancing on a float/boat in the same way I am straight, but wouldn't want to see women dancing around naked on the street 24/7) but you are also not fitting in.

And while it sounds really cool and edgy to not fit in and do what you want, it's also the worst way to enforce acceptance. In fact, it's the opposite, people will oppose you more the more you stand out. The best way to enforce acceptance is to show people that you're a normal person that happens to like men and not women. :/ And you do that by -- guess what -- not dancing on a boat/float, but rather going to work, being friendly, not making avances on colleagues that aren't into you (I know gay men don't do this, but like, the idea is to act like a normal person) and going out after work and having a drink like normal people do with eachother.

But what do I know. I'm just a cishet white boy.

@Vilageidiotx These are traits of fascism. I don't neccesarily dislike these traits but yes they are traits. However you should mind that, if the roles were reversed, and the Axis had won, we'd likely be saying the same about the Americans, who had interment camps and killed off German PoW's too..

It's all perspective, don't you think. :D

Yeah, the internment camps were pretty bad. But hey, at least we didn't attempt systematic genocide out of a belief that we are inherently the superior race.

@Buddha

Coming from a actual queer person on the whole gay pride parade things. (And, somewhat on the whole LGBTQ+ spaces in general since they are related)

It's far less about all those things and more about breaking out of the society that assumes we're heterosexual until told otherwise and giving us a space to be open and free with who we are. A celebration of all things LGBTQ+. A celebration of who we are in a world that would love nothing more than to stomp us into the ground.

It's the same reason there's gay spaces created specifically for queer people. Because every other day of the year. Every other public venue is generally catered to heterosexual people.

And since we've been told repeatedly we're not welcome in those spaces...we made our own.

It's similar to why there's a Black History Month and not a White History Month.

Because every other month in the year is White History Month.

So until these issues are fixed, we'll take our days to be out and proud and surrounded by a community of us. It's a wonderful feeling.

@Buddha

Coming from a actual queer person on the whole gay pride parade things. (And, somewhat on the whole LGBTQ+ spaces in general since they are related)

This is a useless statement. Your identity does not validate your opinion. I get why you are saying it, yes, it does give your opinion MORE validity because you can speak from the perspective of a queer (whatever that means, the term changed from meaning 'homosexual' to 'anyone that isn't straight' in the span of a year or so) and I can't speak from that perspective, however there were also 2 homosexuals above you in this thread who disagreed, so I hope you can see why I say this is a useless statement.

It's far less about all those things and more about breaking out of the society that assumes we're heterosexual until told otherwise and giving us a space to be open and free with who we are. A celebration of all things LGBTQ+. A celebration of who we are in a world that would love nothing more than to stomp us into the ground.

If someone assumes you are heterosexual then politely tell them 'well, actually, I am homosexual' or bisexual, whatever. The thing is regardless of how you want it to be, heterosexual is the norm, heterosexual is the majority and statistically it makes 100% sense to assume heterosexuality. Just because someone assumes you're straight, doesn't mean they hate homosexuals/bisexuals/queer people.

You can be free with you are and open. Nothing is stopping you.

A celebration of all things LGBTQ+ (I remember in 2009, when it was just 'LGBT' and people were happy with it)? I would like very much to know what all things LGBTQ+ are. And why are things specifically linked to a sexuality? I'm sorry, I really don't understand. What sets a queer person apart from a straight person apart from who they share the bed with?

Do queer people tend to snort or bark at people, and that is setting them apart? Last time I checked all my gay friends behaved just like me, except they fuck men and not women, and that's totally fine with me. I have no lesbian friends and my bisexual friends tend to favor the opposite sex despite being bi. I can't speak on them, but I assume all those people also are just normal people. So I'm really confused right now.. what makes an LGBTQ+ person an LGBTQ+ person, that needs to be celebrated? Acceptance comes from fitting in, not standing out. Acceptance comes from showing you are human, not from showing all that your life is about is your sexuality.

It's the same reason there's gay spaces created specifically for queer people. Because every other day of the year. Every other public venue is generally catered to heterosexual people.

Okay, this explains a lot. We don't have this in the Netherlands, or Europe in general. We don't have 'gay spaces' because homosexuals are largely accepted here, discriminating against them (or anyone based on any physical or other trait) is illegal and you will get the shit sued out of you. It's a big issue here. The only ones that frequently have problems with LGBTQ+ people are muslims here. And even they have become more accepting.

Still, I am curious how public spaces are catered to heterosexual people. Do heterosexual people pay less money to go to a movie than LGBTQ+ (I'm just gonna start saying queer, because that seems to be what you use and I'm tired of writing that stupid abbreviation) people? Or do you get to stand in the back of line to access some place, while heterosexuals get a fast pass?

I remember the last time I walked into Central Station The Hague, and was celebrated by a welcoming committee of people dancing on floats, fully dressed (unlike some pride parades) and dancing casually to some light pop music. 'Proud to be Straight!'

Actually that never happens. Mostly because public venues are public. You're allowed to access them. That other people are assholes to you is something I can't help you with because I'm an ocean away, but if it would happen near me I'd stand the fuck up and tell whoever was bothering you to go be an asshole in private.

But guess what -- even assholes are entitled to access to public venues and even they are entitled to their sexist/discriminatory opinions. I'm not gonna stop them from being against queer people, mostly because I think they have a right to be against it. It's like that stupid quote. 'I don't agree with what you are saying but I will defend to the death your right to say it'. Same reason I am not a nazi but I will always allow nazi's to speak their mind if they can do it in a respectful manner.

And since we've been told repeatedly we're not welcome in those spaces...we made our own.

I've never told anyone this. Please, join me in public spaces, I'd love some company. JK, I don't really converse with people in public because public venues are usually used for transit, and as such there's no point in telling you you're not allowed there because I'm not gonna be standing still long enough to tell you that.

It's similar to why there's a Black History Month and not a White History Month.

We don't have black history month in the Netherlands, or at least not one that is celebrated, mostly because we don't give a shit. If you want to celebrate/learn black history in your spare time then I am encouraging you to go do that whoever you are, whether you are black, white, Asian or native American (or whatever made-up races there are nowadays). Do you know why I am encouraging you to do that? Because I don't care. Black people celebrate their culture here every day, and I'm fine with that, because I don't care.

Really, I don't. It's cool. I dabble in black culture myself.

Because every other month in the year is White History Month.

No it's not.

Okay, I get your point. Yes Europe and the United States live in a Euro-centric or White-centric world. Do you know why?

Whites are the majority in this country. That's the end of the discussion. You can't tell whites 'stop celebrating your culture' because they're the majority. That's just dumb.

So until these issues are fixed, we'll take our days to be out and proud and surrounded by a community of us. It's a wonderful feeling.

Okay, so;

a) I'm not sure what the issues there are, but if there are issues, I'm sure you can resolve them legally. Is discrimination not illegal under the US law?

b) Okay, you can be out and proud of how you have sex and who you have sex with. I'd rather be proud of who I am as a person, but that might just be me. My sexuality has nothing to do with who I am. I like women. That doesn't really influence if I am proud of myself. If your sexuality validates your pride then you mustn't have much to be proud of.

It's like me being proud of being Dutch. I've never done anything in the history of the Netherlands to make this country great so why would I share in that prestige?

c) I'm sure you could get a private venue where you can do whatever the fuck you want.

You know. Like everyone else does when they want to be 'surrounded by 'us' and be out and proud'. I do karate. I have an in-group as well that is different from the mainstream group. We don't go out into the streets to do karate. We do it indoors behind closed doors, because we don't wanna bother people who aren't interested in it with the sport. A silly comparison but please think about it.

Not everyone is just as happy as you are that you are dancing around on a boat/float, regardless of how they feel towards the queer community. It has nothing to do with acceptance or anything, it's literally just queer people forcing people to look at them. What's fun about that.

d) I'm glad it's a wonderful feeling. I do hope you feel well. You should.

a) I'm not sure what the issues there are, but if there are issues, I'm sure you can resolve them legally. Is discrimination not illegal under the US law?

Currently in the United States, there are twenty-one states and the District of Columbia that passed laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and nineteen states and D.C. also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. However, the remaining states don't have any laws to protect them and they could be fired because of their sexuality. There's a bill called, Equality Act of 2015, that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections that ban discrimination on the LGBT+ community. I don't know what happened to the bill (I think it's being debated), but there's your answer.

And don't forget about housing discrimination and hate crime as well. Eighteen states don't have LGBT+ hate crimes laws and twenty-seven don't prohibit housing discrimination. So, the answer is yes and no.

The United States is different from the European nations in many ways. This is just one of many examples on how different we are.

@The Spectre America is such a stupid country. I think a general law that prohibits ANY type of discrimination is much easier than catering to every type of minority.

The political capital for that broad of a law just doesn't exist. There are constitutional questions, and then questions that arise from the different constituent cultural regions country. A Kansas would want that law to protect religion and would want to obfuscate its protection of homosexuality, whereas the coast would flip it around exactly the other way.

@Vilageidiotx Too much freedom for the states.

Though it makes sense since they are states in a union, and not provinces.

Still it's a pretty shitty system, as POTUS barely has any power when it comes down to it.

@Rica@Buddha alright both of you, thats enough, I spent all last night trying to get that idiot out of my thread and repeating time and time again this is not a forum for debate. At least not these long drawn out ones. I have no issue with speaking your mind, but this is an Unpopular Opinions thread, and neither one of you are sharing unpopular opinions in any sort of bitesize format youre just arguing with each other.

Please return to the desired format or take this debate into the bitchfest thread where it belongs.

@Vilageidiotx Too much freedom for the states.

Though it makes sense since they are states in a union, and not provinces.

Still it's a pretty shitty system, as POTUS barely has any power when it comes down to it.

Dictators need political capital too. The thing about the US is, it would take some fancy political footwork to do fascism or monarchism shit here no matter who you are because we don't have the same historical assumptions about ourselves that Europe does.

<Snipped quote by Rica>

It's not really a bad point if you don't look at it as preachy. If we had a White History Month, what would we talk about? The founding fathers? We already talk about them all the time. That we all used to be Europeans? The people who are interested in their European heritage also have found times to celebrate it, whereas most people aren't very interested. It's really common for my group, those descended from the original English colonists, to not identify as English at all, but as simply "American" since our culture is the template the rest was constructed on. Black History month isn't a particularly hardcore or invasive type of thing. Basically all it means is people occasionally bring up black historical figures that wouldn't usually get mentioned, and that seems like a pretty good deal as far as things go.

@Vilageidiotx I love you, but this means you too, please can you and @Jotunn Draugr return to just sharing unpopular opinions and posting witty and snarky reaction memes, instead of this full blown history revision stuff. Its making the thread less fun.

@Vilageidiotx I love you, but this means you too, please can you and @Jotunn Draugr return to just sharing unpopular opinions and posting witty and snarky reaction memes, instead of this full blown history revision stuff. Its making the thread less fun.

The man makes a good point.

@Vilageidiotx, I half-agree with you, but I think there's an important distinction that's probably best talked about somewhere else, where we're not disrupting the point of the thread.

Mayonnaise is the best condiment.

Chinese noodles are better than spaghetti.

The Nissan Cube is the stupidest looking thing ever invented.

1) The concept of total "free will" is nothing more than feel-good nonsense.

2) Blank slatism is utter jive.

3) Success in the social arena is almost entirely predicated on honing the two following foundational skills: your capacity to be fake and your ability to promptly register, immediately identify, and intuitively react to the many subtle social cues that people give off when they're conversing with one another.

Master those two techniques and you'll be swimming in job promotions and useful associates in no time at all.

Machiavellian as all hell, but ask yourself this: is pulling the right strings and feeding the right egos to get something that you want or need really a sin worthy of condemnation or vilification?

Is it a sin at all?

@Rica@BuddhaI spent all last night trying to get that idiot out of my thread

oi mate, fuck off. I go where I please.

no one cares about your shitty "Post Ignorant Shit Without Repercussions" thread rules.

<Snipped quote by Dynamo Frokane>

Unpopular = "Overwatch sucks."

Fucking Cancer = "Nazis weren't war criminals my dudes."

Haha I totally didn't notice 'til now, that I'm the one who posted both the "unpopular", and the "fucking cancer" XD

I really feel like I've accomplished something today.

---

Anyway

Chicken tastes better when smothered with soy sauce and tabasco sauce.

Corn tastes better with gravy.

Fries taste better with mayonnaise (especially chipotle mayonnaise).

@Dynamo FrokaneI made one post and promptly left all day to play Skyrim so idk what you're talking about. You can blame me for arguing the first time all you like but the rest (if you actually paid even a little bit of attention) wasn't me.