[mlc9852]

Do I have to view porn before I can criticize it? And I've never watched South Park but I know they make fun of religion. Should I not criticize until I've watched a particular episode demeaning the Virgin Mary?

[gondramB]

"Do I have to view porn before I can criticize it? And I've never watched South Park but I know they make fun of religion. Should I not criticize until I've watched a particular episode demeaning the Virgin Mary?"

Well, first I am saying what my ethical standards for criticism. I'm not trying to tell you what to do.

For me, it's fine to generalize - for example to say "porn is bad" or porn should be censored." But that is different than saying "this episode was pornographic", I don't know how you could honestly do that without seeing the episode.

Personally I would not conclude that a particular episode demeaned the Virgin mary without seeing it. I have seen that episode and I found it offensive but did not think it demeaned anyone. I also found to not ctriticize the Virgin mary. I found that it criticized people who overemphasize icons instead of Christ.

Of course one advantage of not actually observing before you criticize is that it's hard for anyone to contradict any thing you say.