I get the sense that this was a sincere effort on the part of the author to play it right down the middle. If that is true then kudos to him.
As is typically the case the comments serve as a test of the readers' comprehension as well as attitude. The self-identified righties generally approved of the piece (even if they had a quibble) and complemented the author. The comments from the lefties ran a broader range from similar general approval to sneering disgust. The gratuitous insults were almost exclusively from the left as well.
If anything, this is an exercise in leftist obliviousness. They don't (can't?) see themselves when described critically. No matter how one tries to soft-soap it they get in a snit. The meat of the piece revolves around the notion of tolerance. Tolerance for cultural differences, tolerance for ideas, and tolerance for each other. Each side employs a broad-brush as they accuse the other of intolerance in an all-in "you're a worthless POS being because you don't like peas" sorta way (full disclosure: I don't care for peas). What this op-ed is pointing out is that the right has become tolerance-fatigued (while the left has been intolerant all along) and is increasingly pushing back against the leftists.
The difference between the two camps is that, when the left disapproves it says, "Change your ways and agree with me or we will use the awesome power of government to crush you!". When the right disapproves it says, "Agree with me or get the F away from me!"
Take any topic where there is division (and nowadays that is every topic!) and the left not only demands tolerance for the most disturbing and dysfunctional crap, but they insist that we embrace it (see: bake a cake). They have their way at the expense of everyone else getting a say.
Where I work they have break rooms with communal coffee makers - the 14 to 20 cup variety. Most coffee machine venders offer pre-packaged packets of coffee that represent the mainstream blend. Not too rich - not too weak. There's almost always some klown who insists on throwing two packets into the hopper and making the most god-awful mud. I would come into the break room and pour a cup only to spit it out (as would nearly everyone else). So I poured it down the sink and made a fresh pot - using the approved measure. He would come along a pour out mine and brew another double-dose pot.
After about a month of this I decided to bring a thermos with me. I would make normal coffee and fill my thermos. Every once in a while that meant pouring out his to make mine (I usually tried to get in early so that I could make mine first). Then the A-hole could make whatever the F he wanted. Someone (I wonder who) complained to the office manager that I was stealing coffee (brewed coffee in my thermos) and she confronted me, telling me that I couldn't do that.
So I've gone back to pouring out the coffee and making my single cup even if the rest of the pot (essentially two full pots) goes down the drain. The other office drones are too timid to say anything - even when they prefer the normal blend. The discord is palpable, everyone is angry or upset, and I get to share the "you are a meanie" limelight with Mr. Mud.
That is a microcosm of life around a leftist. You can't live with them and you can't kill them......yet.