The Liberal Tolerance Myth

Monday, September 12, 2005 The Liberal Tolerance Myth Alright, this is perhaps an odd way to bring up this topic, but bear with me. Greg Gutfeld's latest bombshell over at HuffPo really has a lot of commenters in an irate lather. One commenter in particular said that he hoped to meet Greg in a dark alley. Greg responded in his DOUBLE SECRET HIDDEN BLOG (in his bio) that he didn't know whether he should bring a knife or a condom to the alley. Better bring both just in case! Anyway, clearly this commenter is addled with hatred for Greg Gutfeld, and I am curious as to why a HuffPo commenter, no doubt with his liberal bona fides in order, would express a desire to do violence to Gutfeld. Where is that vaunted liberal tolerance? Don't liberals bleat endlessly about how tolerant they are? Aren't we supposed to be tolerant of everything, including those we disagree with? Including conservatives? If not, why not? After all, if tolerance only means toleration for those things which you already accept, that is not tolerance. That is agreement. Tolerance, properly, means putting up with those things with which you disagree. For example, if you are a liberal democrat who thinks civil unions are a great thing, you are not tolerating homosexuality. You are accepting of it, and perhaps even condone it. You do not earn liberal brownie points for being 'tolerant' of homosexuality if you see nothing wrong with it. Yet look at how vituperative liberals get when confronted with those things they actually do disagree with. The ire directed at evangelicals, Republicans and of course George W. Bush has reached dreadful lows never seen before in American political life. If you merely voice support for the administration in any way, you too like Greg Gutfeld have joined the evil and criminal cabal that runs this country. You have blood on your hands. You are a Bushbot. You deserve to be beaten up in an alley. To emphasize just how silly the liberal myth of tolerance is, let us properly apply it. We are supposed to be tolerant of those things with which we disagree. Are we then supposed to be tolerant of al-Qaeda? Nazis? Child molesters? Murderers? Liberals will quickly find ways to extract themselves from being bound to these examples. After all, they don't really believe this tolerance crap any more than conservatives do. The liberal tolerance myth is emblematic of liberalism itself. Liberals don't extend the hand of tolerance really, they merely pat themselves on the back with it. It isn't important to actually be tolerant, it is only important to be perceived as tolerant. That, my friends, is liberalism in a nutshell. 3:08 PM | | |