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So on this weeks 'Always Sunny in Philidelphia' they proposed a question. That was the name of the episode 'Hero or Hate Crime?'.
I'm curious to see what you think of it.
What happened was, one of the characters, Mac, who has always been suspected of being gay was about to be crushed by a falling piano.
Another of the characters, Frank, yelled out to Mac 'Look out faggot!' which alerted him and others to his predicament, whereupon which he was saved.
So was he a hero, because he saved him, or was it a hate crime because he called him a faggot?
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Given Frank had no time to think,
I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. ![[Image: tongue3.gif]](http://www3.telus.net/Aaron_Walkhouse/tongue3.gif)
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(Feb 09, 2017, 12:14 pm)Aaron.Walkhouse Wrote: Given Frank had no time to think,
I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
Agreed.
If it was a true hate crime...He would have let the faggot get hit by said piano.
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Back in high school, people call each other faggots all the time.
Nothing new here.
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Firstly, the real answer is neither.
Risking ones own life by physically interceding to push someone out of the way of a falling piano makes one a hero. Yelling "look out" when a piano is about to fall is not in the same league.
Likewise, namecalling is not in the same league as physically assaulting someone because they're homosexual.
That said, within the artificial parameters of the question, actions speak louder than words: the guy was a hero. [Arguably, even more so precisely because he saved the life of someone he supposedly hates.]
P.S. I don't watch the show and aren't interested enough to google but are lots of people seriously debating this?
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hero
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/hero
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/249
Either frank was charged with a crime or not. If he was: Yes. If he wasn't: No.
The ONLY appropriate portion of the question is: "Is Frank a hero?"
To which, the answer is: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat"
Read the actual definitions of "Hero" 20 times each, in full. Then, sit back and see if you can shoehorn your belief in "what a hero can and cannot be" back into the equation. When you finally realize what you're trying to do, laugh and have a great rest of the day.
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Feb 11, 2017, 17:33 pm
(This post was last modified: Feb 11, 2017, 17:34 pm by joew771. Edited 1 time in total.)
(Feb 10, 2017, 18:29 pm)Sid Wrote: Risking ones own life by physically interceding to push someone out of the way of a falling piano makes one a hero. Yelling "look out" when a piano is about to fall is not in the same league.
P.S. I don't watch the show and aren't interested enough to google but are lots of people seriously debating this?
In the show, someone else did push (or actually kick) him out of the way, but they wouldn't have known about it without the yell of 'look out faggot'.
And no, I doubt if anyone is debating this but us actually. 
And Panicitem, what the hell does schrodinger's cat have to do with it? It isn't a quantum physics problem. It's a moral problem. No one is debating whether he is alive or not. It was an actual (fictional) event. He was at risk, someone alerted people and he was saved. That's it.
And that is what the episode was about remember, whether he is a hero or not, also who got custody of a $2 lottery ticket, but that's a different discussion. 
The point is, is it ok to use a slur to save someone?
Personally I'd rather be called a name than die.
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'K. in that case I fully agree with you
[Another point that can be made is that human beings are psychologically complex. i.e. it's possible for someone who is rabidly homophobic to save the life of someone who is gay; without that meaning they're not a "hate criminal" or a "hero" i.e. another valid answer could be "he was both"]
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He could be both. That's true.
My argument is, that words are protected by free speech, at least in america. And no matter what someone says, whether saving someone or killing someone shouldn't matter. Only the actions should count. In this case he was attempting to save someone from death, and since he did it, what he said to do it is irrelevant. And if you are killing someone, the words and reasons aren't relevant. Only the fact that you are killing someone, or in this case, saving someone.
I'm a little bit surprised I got this many responses to this. Maybe they were on to something.
BTW, they also debated the use of the word 'cunt' and 'cocksucker'. One of my favorite episodes, but that isn't what we are talking about here. I would suggest that people watch it though. It's hilarious.
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(Feb 11, 2017, 18:20 pm)joew771 Wrote: My argument is, that words are protected by free speech, at least in america.
Ah! I think that's a different argument.
Hate Crime? No, under the circumstances I can't see that being even arguable in court, let alone winnable.
But [successful] "outing" lawsuits are a thing--even in America, even in spite of free speech protections--and from what you said in your OP "Mac" is only assumed to be gay. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the legal system could be used to punish "Frank" for the use of the word.
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