Title: When Tolerance Turns Into a Label Gun
Good morning. This is The GigMan’s Life, and this is one of those talks where language, public forums, Facebook moderation, George Carlin, and plain old bad behavior all run into each other.
Because this started with a conversation.
A conversation about birthright citizenship.
Now, people can agree with me. People can disagree with me. People can tell me I am wrong. People can bring history. They can bring law. They can bring numbers. They can bring a better argument.
That is called discussion.
That is how adults are supposed to handle disagreement.
But that is not what happened.
Instead, someone took my full name, took a picture of me, edited that picture, and slapped the words “Convicted pedophile” on it in a public Facebook comment thread on WWLP / 22 News.
Let’s be very clear.
That is not debate.
That is not criticism.
That is not tolerance.
That is not someone correcting a fact.
That is a false criminal accusation being used as a weapon.
And yes, I reported it to Facebook for harassment and bullying. I also notified WWLP, because this happened on their public-facing Facebook page, under their brand, in a comment section they have the ability to moderate.
I am not asking a news station to police every opinion. I am not asking them to referee every argument. I am saying that when someone uses your page to attach a false criminal sex-offense accusation to a named person’s photograph, that is not normal comment-section trash.
That is dangerous.
Because that kind of label is not neutral. People know exactly what they are doing when they use it. It is meant to make someone radioactive. It is meant to make people stop listening. It is meant to put a target on someone.
And that is where this ties into dismissive language.
This is why I miss George Carlin.
People love to quote Carlin when it is convenient. They love anti-government Carlin. They love anti-police Carlin. They love “everybody is full of it” Carlin.
But Carlin’s real weapon was language.
He understood how words get used to hide thought, replace thought, manipulate reality, and shut down conversations. He understood euphemisms. He understood labels. He understood how people use language when they do not want to deal with facts.
And this is exactly that.
The subject was birthright citizenship.
The response was not, “Here is where you are wrong.”
The response was not, “Here is the law.”
The response was not, “Here are the countries.”
The response was not, “Here is a better argument.”
The response was: take the person’s picture and slap a poison label on it.
That is the lowest form of argument.
You are not challenging the point. You are trying to contaminate the person making the point.
And here is where the tolerance part comes in.
If you want to decorate yourself with symbols of kindness, peace, love, acceptance, and tolerance, then maybe do not turn around and use a false criminal accusation against someone because you could not answer a point.
Because at that moment, your conduct told the truth.
The symbol did not make you tolerant.
The slogan did not make you kind.
The label did not make you right.
Your behavior showed who you were.
And trust me, that is an uglier picture than the one you tried to draw of me.
Now, I know the difference between an insult and an accusation.
If someone says, “Chris is an idiot,” that is an insult.
If someone says, “Chris has a bad argument,” that is an opinion.
If someone says, “Chris is wrong about birthright citizenship,” fine. Bring the counterargument.
But when someone posts my full name, my photograph, and the phrase “Convicted pedophile,” that is not just an insult. That is a factual accusation of serious criminal conduct.
And no, I have never been convicted of that.
I pass background checks. I have passed many background checks. I have passed background checks for years. I have not changed my name. I have not hidden who I am. I am very easy to find.
So if the accusation were true, there would be a record. There would be something real behind it.
There is not.
That is why this was not investigation.
This was fabrication.
And yes, there is a difference between slander and libel. Slander is spoken. Libel is written, printed, posted, or published in a more permanent form. Both fall under defamation.
Again, I am not pretending to be a lawyer. But I do understand English. And I understand the difference between disagreeing with someone and publicly publishing a false criminal accusation about them.
Now, I am not leaving Facebook.
I am not hiding.
I am not taking down my page.
Facebook is part of my life. It is part of how I talk to people, how I comment on things, and how I stay connected. I am not going to let some person with a label gun chase me off a platform.
But I am going to document it.
I am going to report it.
And I am going to talk about what it shows.
Because this is also why Section 230 keeps coming up in public debate. I understand platforms and page owners have protections for third-party content. I understand there is a difference between being legally liable for every random comment and having the ability to moderate your own public-facing space.
But public trust is not only about what you can legally get away with.
If you run a public forum, and someone uses that forum to spread false criminal accusations against a real person, then once you are notified, you should take it seriously.
That should not be controversial.
And Facebook should take it seriously too.
Because I have been put in Facebook timeout for far less. I have had comments removed for pointing out bad judgment. I have seen Facebook act over things that were nowhere near this level.
So if the rules apply to smaller comments, they should apply when someone posts an edited image falsely labeling someone as a convicted pedophile.
That is not complicated.
And this brings me back to Carlin.
People think Carlin was just anti-government, anti-police, anti-institution, anti-everything.
No.
Carlin was anti-stupid.
He was anti-bullshit.
He understood that language can be used as a tool, or it can be used as a weapon. It can clarify reality, or it can distort reality.
And when someone slaps a false criminal label on a person because they cannot answer the argument, they are doing exactly the kind of thing Carlin spent his life mocking.
They are using language to stop thinking.
They are using a label to replace facts.
They are using accusation as a shortcut.
And then they want to pretend they are the tolerant ones.
No.
Tolerance means you can have a conversation.
Tolerance means you can hear something you do not like and still respond like an adult.
Tolerance means you bring a counterargument instead of trying to destroy someone’s reputation with a false label.
So disagree with me all you want.
Tell me I am wrong.
Tell me I missed something.
Tell me my argument is bad.
Bring facts. Bring numbers. Bring law. Bring history. Bring a real point.
But when your answer is to take someone’s name, take someone’s picture, and attach a false criminal accusation to it, you are not proving that person wrong.
You are proving you had nothing better.
And that is the lesson.
When labels replace arguments, the conversation is already dead.
And the person holding the label gun is usually the one who killed it.
That is Breakfast Talk.