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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I rarely read George Will but loved his citation of Wm Buckley's:  “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

It reminded me of all these faux "gee how can anyone support Romney" threads which turn into more bashing of conservatives.[/quote]

This is a straw man argument, and a weak one at that.

To the degree that liberals are intolerant of conservative viewpoints, they are usually based on the inherent intolerance espoused in the views, or the policy that would otherwise restrict one's liberties.

Otherwise, most good liberals are perfectly open to hearing and considering viewpoints that may be different than their own. It's just when those other views essentially are intolerant in and of themselves that liberals stop listening.

That is not inconsistent. Not all viewpoints are valid.[/quote]

i.e., You value your own "valid and intolerant" opinions above all! Thanks for the reminder![/quote]

No, and I'll thank you again for never again putting words in my mouth or deliberately twisting what I say.

Liberals are exceedingly tolerant. They welcome all views. UNTIL those views involve the infringement of others' rights.

For example, a liberal is willing to tolerate a discussion on voter rights. But the minute a conservative starts advocating voter ID laws as a thinly-disguised attempt to disenfranchise lots of voters, I'm no longer interested in what you have to say. It's not a valid opinion since voter fraud is not an actual problem.

The minute a conservative starts trying to restrict women's rights to make decisions about their own bodies, same thing. Your opinions are not valid.

Tolerance does not mean everything is equal and valid. I can hear you out, decide you're not worthy of my time (or citizenship in this country even) and tune you out and shout you down, and that is entirely consistent.

Democrats and liberals believe in personal freedom and equal opportunity. Conservatives tend to not.[/quote]

Once again, your statements reveal your high opinion of your own beliefs and views, as well as your low regard for conservative opinions. That's fine because freedom of speech is one of our country's greatest freedoms, but you're not sounding like a person who's tolerant of views different than your own. [/quote]

And once again, you don't seem to understand the meaning of the word "tolerance."

Tolerance does not mean I have to accept your viewpoints. You seem to think that it does. It also doesn't mean I have to give them careful consideration if they are patently offensive, invalid, or otherwise unsupported by facts.

True story: The KKK once marched in my town. Legally, I tolerated it. But you seem to suggest that my failure to invite them to dinner and engage them in deep, open-minded conversation about their views on the supremacy of white people somehow makes me "intolerant." It does not.

Alternative, I'm as liberal as they come. But I am more than capable of having a genuine, rational give-and-take with a conservative who believes, for example, that the estate tax is bad. I can acknowledge their views that they view it as confiscatory and that it hurts capital formation. I can rebut them with my own views that our country was founded on a meritocracy and that the accumulation of wealth in dynastic families is bad for the country over all. But I will shut that person out if they start ranting about the "death tax" and insisting that it hurts small business owners, because I can prove, with facts, that not to be the case.

Similarly, I can discuss abortion with someone who opposes it if they're willing to meet me half-way decorum-wise. But for you to suggest I should have to tolerate being told "abortion is murder" or have gory photographs shoved into my face, you're wrong.

I realize you're trying to prove hypocrisy here, but you're failing miserably. It's not necessarily the content or the argument that liberals reject in these alleged cases of "intolerance" -- it is the pugnacious, strident tone they react to. Granted, there are polemicists on both the left and the right, but it's also true that no one likes them very much, except the true believers.

I might also add that you, OP, fall into this latter camp of people with your lazy intellect and straw man argument techniques. I'm sure you find it amusing, but you're pretty much alone in that.

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