Is this really a safe space for autistic adults?

To me the safest space is one where you can say things with out worrying about whether you are going to be vilified for it. I know these things are relative but to me being berated and silenced by people who don't want to engage with my arguments or opinions is far more scary than having people tell me I'm wrong and try to argue with me, far more scary than having some one express an opinion I personally don't like or find repugnant.

My idea of a safe space is a place where a person can say what they really think and feel and the next person can stand up and go into all the reasons why they think they are wrong. That's what makes me feel safe.

Not sure that exists, certainly not absolutely anyway. Some opinions are too hateful to be allowed a platform. 

That's just the flip side of fascism. So as you start pushing ideas and views out of the debate, no matter how hateful, you undermine democracy. You lend legitimacy to those who claim they are being repressed. The solution to hateful ideas is not to try to silence them but respond with better ideas.

M said:

That's a huge part of the problem with the Internet to begin with - these hateful people have a much larger audience than they did pre-internet and it validates them. 

I agree and they can hide behind anonymity, it is true that everyone else also has a wider audience but we seem to like to believe the negatives more than the truths.

So does everyone else though. And I don't think it does validate them. In many ways I think racism found it easier to flourish when debates happened down at the pub around a table of 6 or so individuals with similar life experiences.

I grew up in a family of racists and I'm not any closer to understanding it. They also called me a spastic for being autistic. 

I've engaged in many pointless conversations with them about both topics and it is draining. Perhaps you have more emotional energy reserved for this than I do but I already do an emotionally-demanding job and I really don't want to spend my free time giving hateful people my last bits of energy. That's a huge part of the problem with the Internet to begin with - these hateful people have a much larger audience than they did pre-internet and it validates them. 

ideals exist for a reason. If we don't strive for our ideals what should we strive for. Pragmatism without ideals is a very slippery slope. One needs a degree of idealism to prevent ones good intentions from turning you into a monster.

And education is the wrong way to think about it too. It assumes that the only reason people hold hateful views is they are misguided and are going to change their views if you argue with them. Some of them don't really care about the facts or arguments. But lots of other people do. Such debates aren't always for changing the minds of the people you are debating with, its for the benefit of those listening who might find hateful arguments compelling. It's also for yourself because at the very least be engaging with the arguments of others you will come to understand them better (and hopefully visa versa even if they don't agree with you). That's how we humanise people we hate and disagree with. By understanding why they are the way they are even if we don't agree with it.

That is very idealistic but engaging with bigots is often futile. Some people don't want to be educated, they only want to hate, offend and harm other people. 

It isn't the job of the subjects of any discrimination or hate to educate these people either. 

As for democracy, I'm not sure we have a current government that lends to arguing FOR democracy right now...

That is very idealistic but engaging with bigots is often futile. Some people don't want to be educated, they only want to hate, offend and harm other people. 

It isn't the job of the subjects of any discrimination or hate to educate these people either. 

As for democracy, I'm not sure we have a current government that lends to arguing FOR democracy right now...

M said:

That's a huge part of the problem with the Internet to begin with - these hateful people have a much larger audience than they did pre-internet and it validates them. 

I agree and they can hide behind anonymity, it is true that everyone else also has a wider audience but we seem to like to believe the negatives more than the truths.

So does everyone else though. And I don't think it does validate them. In many ways I think racism found it easier to flourish when debates happened down at the pub around a table of 6 or so individuals with similar life experiences.

I grew up in a family of racists and I'm not any closer to understanding it. They also called me a spastic for being autistic. 

I've engaged in many pointless conversations with them about both topics and it is draining. Perhaps you have more emotional energy reserved for this than I do but I already do an emotionally-demanding job and I really don't want to spend my free time giving hateful people my last bits of energy. That's a huge part of the problem with the Internet to begin with - these hateful people have a much larger audience than they did pre-internet and it validates them. 

ideals exist for a reason. If we don't strive for our ideals what should we strive for. Pragmatism without ideals is a very slippery slope. One needs a degree of idealism to prevent ones good intentions from turning you into a monster.

And education is the wrong way to think about it too. It assumes that the only reason people hold hateful views is they are misguided and are going to change their views if you argue with them. Some of them don't really care about the facts or arguments. But lots of other people do. Such debates aren't always for changing the minds of the people you are debating with, its for the benefit of those listening who might find hateful arguments compelling. It's also for yourself because at the very least be engaging with the arguments of others you will come to understand them better (and hopefully visa versa even if they don't agree with you). That's how we humanise people we hate and disagree with. By understanding why they are the way they are even if we don't agree with it.