Support NeoGAF

[Mumei]

Until someone can actually articulate how gay marriage affects children / nuclear family, I'm going to write them off as concern trolling.

If they simply wave around the whole "but what about the children," without actually understanding WHAT about the children, I see that as concern trolling (just pretending to care about x, while really just saying y.)

Personally, I don't think the anti-gay marriage crowd actually knows anything about the effect of gay marriage on children. I'm pretty sure it's just a talking point for them-- sure, they use it amongst themselves, but only to give each other ammo to concern troll the "opposition."

That's why I see it as concern trolling... none of them actually know about any "real world effects" on children (because... there are none). They use it as a talking point.

They don't need to be able to articulate how gay marriage affects children or the nuclear family in order to be sincere in those concerns, though. Whether their arguments are plausible is unrelated to the question of whether their arguments are sincerely held, and on that argument, at least, I think they are. That's the litmus test for whether something is concern trolling; whether it is something you are actually concerned about, or whether it is something that you are expressing faux-concern over in order to undermine a position you dislike.

You're right that it's a talking point with no basis on reality. That doesn't make it "concern trolling"; it just means that it's baseless and irrational.

 

[Booshka]

That's twice in this thread that Gotchaye has explained my point better than I could have.

GG

 

[Sianos]

Probably the same sort of people who text like "please respond" and then go fucking nuts on the person.

The difference being there are perfectly valid reasons for rejecting someone's romantic advances and the fact that being able to reject those advances is important to people's well-being and functioning in society, whereas holding baseless racist (or in this case speciesist) views is poisonous to society: it is beneficial for all that people are forced to realized there is no underlying logic behind their prejudice and that by holding such baseless prejudices they are being very ignorant and not properly utilizing their cognitive abilities (or to put it nicely, being stupid assholes).

If you can't answer and justify why you have such a view, chances are it is not a view worth supporting. People are uncomfortable when calmly asked to explain why they are prejudiced because they unconsciously know there is no real basis for it. This is why they feel so threatened when confronted about it, even in a calm, rational manner. Allowing people to continually harbor such poorly formed views is doing a disservice to society, and arguably to the prejudiced person as well.

 

[Yoritomo]

The sea lion comic isn't an actual example of concern trolling.

Some of the responses are actual examples of concern trolling.

This is my design.

 

[WrenchNinja]

That's some nice reaching.

I don't think it's reaching. That's what it looks like.