Wherein I quibble about a few of the finer points of debate.

I do adore a good debate. I, like most people, openly love the sound of my own opinions; but I also appreciate the opportunity to express them in a setting that allows for them to be (intelligently and calmly) questioned, and I am quite open to hearing other people's views (so long as they are reasonably well thought out). I realize that not everyone can have the same opinions of every hot button topic, and you can argue politics until the cows come home but some people will just never see eye-to-eye, and plenty of women are exercising their right to not care whether they have rights. I have come to accept these facts, however grudgingly.

One thing I do insist on, if I'm to take someone's input with any level of seriousness, is that we are all clear on the definitions of the words and terms we're using.
For example, I find it bewilderingly difficult to find a person who understands what "privilege" is in a socio-economic context. Unless I feel like hauling out the chalkboard and teaching this poor imbecile from scratch what they should already know if they're displaying a willingness to engage in racial, gender-based or economic debate, I'm probably not going to bother paying any attention to their opinion. This isn't because I'm inherently arrogant (debatable; I won't deny it just yet); it's because their opinion is overwhelmingly likely to be uninformed and/or based on anecdotal evidence and/or based on prejudice and second-third-or-fourth-hand stories.

Rules of Any Decent Debate
1. Understand the vocabulary. If you want to argue whether or not there is a God, define 'God'.
2. If you know nothing or nearly nothing factual about the topic, don't start. Don't even say anything. Shut up and listen. You might learn something.
3. No anecdotal evidence. Ever. I don't care. If you utter a sentence during a serious discussion beginning with "My [insert relative/pet/friend/ex-boyfriend's name here]..." you are going straight to debating Hell and I will help you get there. It isn't relevant. Just because something happened to someone you know does not make it the norm. It doesn't mean anything at all, actually, so just don't bring it up. Good. Thanks.

These are all problems I tend to find in abundance on the internet. That's not to say they're not also tragically common in everyday (real) life, but the internet really manages to produce some doozies. If I had a dollar for every time I've come across a wildly creatively spelled missive denouncing one thing or another based on someone's auntie's personal experiences as a secretary, I'd be a very wealthy lady.

What's really caught my attention tonight when it comes to terrible arguments is the sheer number of people who dismiss concerns about underlying messages in anything aimed at children by saying, "But it's for children, so it's intended to entertain not indoctrinate". 
Intention is completely and utterly irrelevant. I'm sorry, but in cases of implied racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, or xenophobia, it really doesn't matter even a tiny little bit whether the creator of the thing really intended those ideas to be embedded in the fibre of it. If someone can find any of those things, and reasonably justify their point using the source material, then I'm real sorry, but it's there. You can choose not to look at it if you like. Of course there are other ways of reading it. That doesn't mean that implied racism/sexism/ableism/homophobia/xenophobia isn't there anymore. It just means you'd prefer not to acknowledge it.

Another thing - indoctrination is most often not intentional. I don't understand where exactly this idea came from that 'indoctrination' means 'deliberate and malignant brainwashing', but it's complete nonsense and shows a poor grasp of the vocabulary. According to that fount of knowledge known as Wikipedia, "indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology (see doctrine). It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned."

The only difference between indoctrination and socialization is that one has a negative connotation and the other has a positive connotation. It's all cultural learning, and it is never more significant and influential than it is in children's entertainment.

On Ellen Page.

So, supposedly Ellen Page has been 'outed' by an outraged blogger with unnamed sources. Question: has this always counted as a reliable way to find out about somebody's sexual orientation? I'm neither here nor there on the issue; it's bullshit to forcibly out somebody, and something about the inherent sideshow-ish nature of the claims makes me pretty uncomfortable. It's as if they've found out she's abnormal, dug up a dirty scandalous secret worth blogging about, which I'm sure is doing wonders to reassure those LGBT teens they're so worried for.

Plenty of people manage to live their lives without discussing their sexuality with people they don't know, and frankly I don't see why anyone should be made to do it if it doesn't appeal. If a prominent member of the community is gay and they want to talk about it in the press, make a statement about it and volunteer themselves as a positive representative, that's brilliant, but it's not something you can force someone into. It's intensely personal, and claiming anyone should bring their sexuality into their profession on the basis that it's a job that forces them into the public eye is ridiculous. Go find someone else to point the finger at, as if they were personally responsible for the bullying of LGBT youth. Maybe this time pick somebody who isn't a young LGBT person.

On natural human insanity.

'Insanity' is such a relative term. 50 years ago running for the sake of fitness would have been considered pretty insane. Now I can't walk for 15 minutes between my house and campus without having at least two near-misses with deliriously exhausted joggers who apparently are blind to everything except cars and cyclists. Clearly the whole idea of craziness is rooted in the zeitgeist of the time and place you find yourself in. This makes me feel a little better whenever I find myself thinking, "What I am doing is batshit insane". Hey, it might be, but that isn't always necessarily a bad thing.