:-)
Tolerant Liberals !!!
Surprised? I'm not. I see it everyday, here, on this Page. Even those who've journeyed to libertarianism from the political left are far more likely to "Unlike" this page over a spirited disagreement. If you're a part of what I call "The 90+% Club," (in which we agree on almost everything), there are still those super-touchy, traditionally left-wing faves that might cause you to "Unfollow" or "Unlike."
(Yes. I've pulled out the "broad brush." No need to point that out.)
By the way, this study pretty much tracks, identically, findings published by the Washington Post a couple of years ago. So this is not some outlier conclusion. People predisposed to the political left really do want to shut you up or shut you out, in greater numbers than those perceived to be on the political right.
But, this is where I fundamentally differ from the initial premise of this study. I've long ago rejected the old Euro-paradigm of "left/right," in which the USSR was representative of left wing extremism, and Nazi Germany was right wing extremism. I prefer to place authoritarianism, (in all its labels), on the left end of the spectrum, and liberty on the right. In so doing, Stalin, on a two-dimensional left-right line, would be at the far left extreme, with Hitler only a handshake or two to his right -- yet still very far to the left.
Which brings me to my own unscientific observations over the past year. As a libertarian page, I'm just not going to have many Hillary supporters as followers -- save the occasional troll, or the few libertarians who cast a vote her way as the "better known of the two evils." We did accumulate a large number of libertarians or libertarian-leaning conservatives who threw all-in for Trump, as the "hopefully lesser of evils." That's where I'd experience my largest number of "Unlikes" -- whenever I'd take a hard swipe at some of Trump's more egregious stump rhetoric. But it really wasn't the "lesser of two evils" Trump supporters who'd click Unlike, and drop a few f-bombs on the way out the door. It was almost inevitably those who we'd label the radical Alt-right. Those whose priority issue is Trump's Wall. Those less predisposed to inclusion and tolerance.
That actual lefties are three times more likely to Unlike, Unfollow, Unfriend, or Block is not surprising, in the least. For all their talk of tolerance, tolerant is exactly what they aren't. Which is why they wish to publish an ever-growing list of "trigger words," define "hate speech" as anything they disagree with, and create "safe spaces" for themselves . . . at least until they can figure out how to run the rest of us off, or lock us away.
Let's not ignore the obvious fact that intolerance can be found amongst those on the right, as well -- revealing themselves as not so much "right," after all. Whether they wear #BlackLivesMatter hoodies or hooded #KKK robes, both groups seek the same things: to silence the focus of their disdain, and to disassociate by whatever means possible -- even with violence and destruction, disregarding the lives and property of others.
For now, I'm thankful for the "Unlike" link. It's a helluvalot better than a train ride to a right-wing concentration camp or left-wing gulag. (As if there's a difference.)
Now . . . who'll be the first to call me an "Imbecilic f--ktard" for this commentary, before clicking "Unlike?"
;)
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