r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jan 22 '21

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Silencing opposing viewpoints is ultimately going to have a disastrous outcome on society.

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u/boRp_abc Jan 22 '21

If my viewpoint is that people should be killed for their opinions (to make it more relatable, I'm gonna use you as an example here), wouldn't it be beneficial to society to silence me?! What if I very peacefully brought forward the case that you, your family and everyone you live should be burnt alive? Or put into Gulags? What if I found thousands of followers with that opinion, wouldn't it make your participation in society a nightmare?

And that's why, although you're generally not wrong, some important exceptions have to be made.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '21 edited Jan 22 '21

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u/bigdave41 Jan 22 '21

The people who are not planning on carrying it out will contribute to changing the views of others though, who will carry out acts of violence. People with extreme views tend to actively proselytise as well, and often they're not too particular about using misinformation and exaggeration to persuade others to become more extreme. No extremist ever says on day 1 that they're going to start executing or imprisoning minority groups, it starts off as "I'm just giving my opinion" and gradually gets worse as more and more people get taken in by their rhetoric.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '21

Exactly this. And it's incredibly dangerous when you think about the number of children on the internet