Topic: Intolerance

[Weisshaupt]

One of my grade school friends, a groomsman at my wedding, started a blog (pre-facebook) and invited MichelleO and I to participate.  It being a group of close friends from grade school, topics ranged far and wide. My buddy would constantly post the sort of things you see on Democratic Underground, and MichelleO and I would respond. Early on I told my friend I would stop posting responses there if he asked - as it was "his" blog.  Instead he decided to ban me in a very public and rude temper tantrum because I developed and began to post my "Liberal Indoctrination Exam" 10 questions at a time.

As a result this study surprises me. - After all, if my grade school chum was willing to destroy a 30 year relationship because I asked questions ( with an option to  give your own answer!) I would have guessed closer to 80% of liberals have banned people.  I suspect that they lie so they don't seem as narrowminded and thuggish as they really are.   

Another friend sent this to me- unsure of its authorship:

[blockquote]If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for
everyone.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his
situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to    church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and Jesus silenced.

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping
for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

I never met an open minded Liberal, never.  they are pushy, arrogant, pridefull, ignorant, close-minded, intolerant, Godless, f*cks[/blockquote]

[Alphabet Soup]

Back when I was largely apolitical I had many leftist "friends". We were friends because of shared interests, true, but we were also friendly because I tolerated their leftist intolerance. Elsewhere I remarked about the "mean girl" phenomenon where in any group of people the leftists reveal themselves because of their constant critical assessments of others. I'm not smart enough to know if it is a genetic thing, a learned thing, or a chemical imbalance. I know that I was raised in a conservative family with four brothers who turned out conservatively and a sister who turned out center-left.

As my opinions solidified politically I found leftists distancing themselves from me. The notion of "agree to disagree" is a farce. To me it means "my friendship with you is more important than demanding that you see things my way". To them it meant, "I'm going to find ways to punish you for not agreeing with me". On more than one occasion I found this out the hard way.

Yes, I was rather naive.

At a certain point "The Emperors New Clothes" suddenly found new meaning for me. All of a sudden I recognized things that before had been there but were invisible to me (or more accurately I was oblivious to them). Like the movie "They Live" where Roddy Piper put on the glasses and sees the monsters for how they truly are, I began to see the hypocrisy, the duplicity, and the latent dishonesty of my lefty friends. And I began to walk away from relationships - even long-term ones like you describe.

"How can I hope to be true to you if I cannot be true to myself"

And how can I expect to maintain self-honesty if I am willing to avert my eyes and condone dishonesty in those around me?

It's a lot quieter now. My circle of friends is much diminished. That's OK - makes it easier to hear my own heart.

[charlesoakwood]

These anecdotes directly reflect our dysfunctional congress
and the Democrat concept of compromise.

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/videothumbs/2012/03/13/9c/36/63210ec8-6d5e-11e1-b172-00188b749d9b_r139x99.jpg?8c8036c746a00051906bfd113235a7e72d024be4

[Pandora]

Haven't ever had a lot of friends, or a group, so I've missed out on the joys of ideological intolerance from my friends.  

I am the intolerant one.  I am put-off by the small-scale chiseling many people do without giving it a second thought; by the unnecessary "little white lies"; by careless inconsideration of my time and effort.  This tends to whittle down one's "circle".  And that was yesterday.

Today, it's still all of the above and a refusal to overlook other people's insistence that "society owes" anybody, or everybody, anything.

I've previously mentioned my neighbor next door; as I'm finding it difficult to retain the cordiality dictated by proximity, I keep my distance.  The last time we had a political exchange, it was through email.  He sent me the NC Democratic Committee's talking points on some issue or another and I went back at him hard with a rebuttal; he ended at one of the places where all whiny Libs usually do, "okay, so I must be stupid or something ....".  Better than hurling ad hominems at me, but that was it for political discussions as far as I was concerned.

Don't you know, though, that he wandered over to our porch the other day, asking who we "liked" election-wise and said he'd probably vote again for Obama.

I had to just go in the house.

************

eta:  Oh yeah, I outright called somebody, spouting the "Republican war on women" bullsht on the other forum, a LIAR.

Yes.  Very intolerant of me.

[benb61]

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for
everyone.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his
situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to    church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and Jesus silenced.

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping
for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

That is brilliant, I'll be sure to pass this along.

[John Florida]

  A few months back my next door neighbor finally pushed me over the edge and I gave him the dressing down he's sorely needed for a long time and ended that nonsense for ever.He got away with too many cheap shots in the interest of keeping harmony but he finally let the Sicilian in out and he got his education once and for all.

[Libertas]

I never met an open minded Liberal, never.  they are pushy, arrogant, pridefull, ignorant, close-minded, intolerant, Godless, f*cks

That about covers it.

"My circle of friends is much diminished." 

Yup, me too 'Soup.  But life is sure a lot less strewn with useless clutter.

[John Florida]

I never met an open minded Liberal, never.  they are pushy, arrogant, pridefull, ignorant, close-minded, intolerant, Godless, f*cks

That about covers it.

"My circle of friends is much diminished." 

Yup, me too 'Soup.  But life is sure a lot less strewn with useless clutter.

 I'm good with less friends,quality has become way more important than quantity.

[Glock32]

My circle has never been large, and is less so now, for many of these same reasons. Plus the fact that I have been an old curmudgeon since birth.

[BigAlSouth]

. . .

"How can I hope to be true to you if I cannot be true to myself"

To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day. Thou can not then be false to any man."

--Shakespeare (Hamlet)


My teacher in high school gave us an extra five points on every test if we quoted the bard correctly. To this day, decades later, I can still recall this quote, and as time passes, understand it more every day.