A CALL TO ACTION!

Intolerance

            Liberals love to talk about diversity and tolerance. The strange thing is by this they mean “as long as I identify with you.” I do not know if you are aware that a number of colleges or university faculties and students have protested the administrations choice for commencement speaker this year. Condi Rice, the first black female Secretary of State, had two hundred faculty members sign a petition requesting the university to reconsider their decision for her to speak at their graduation ceremonies. She is a concert pianists, holder of a PhD (expert in Soviet Politics), the former President of Stanford as well as Secretary of State, but these faculty didn’t believe she was qualified to speak at their school! Other speakers who are considered conservative had similar experiences at other schools. Its OK to have actors like Jodie Foster speak, as long as they spout the leftist line. It is a proven fact that leftists are some of the most intolerant people on the planet. Obviously they believe that they have a corner on the truth and that anyone right of their viewpoint is a hack and demagogue.

            Last night I had diner with a couple who are very leftist in their political viewpoints. I spoke with the husband for several hours and found it very informative and a good reminder. In the past, I a voiced very similar viewpoints to those offered by him last night. While I tried to speak about facts and make comparisons, I found him very inflexible and emotional in his viewpoints. He freely stated that “he hated George Bush” and other similar statements like “he lied us into war.” When I would try to follow a line of logic he would then change the subject to something else he felt very strongly about. What things really boiled down to was that he was very comfortable and passionate in his viewpoints and saw little reason to change them. What might be called his comfort zone. To me his politics were a direct result of his leaving the Mormon Church as a youth and a great deal of hostility that he felt toward those whom he had bad experiences with. I believe that this is true for all of us to one extent or another. We view the world through our own prisms and selectively collect facts which support our strongly held beliefs.

            One thing that really struck me was when he said I listen to NPR and BBC and read the Salt Lake Tribune, implying that he was well informed. When I stated that these were some of the most liberal sources of news out there, he stated that all news sources have bias. Do not get me wrong, he is a wonderful guy and I thoroughly enjoyed by conversations with him. To me it was more about lessons in human nature than politics. I think it is important to listen to very diverse points of view from time to time and I try and read from very different sources on the web to gain perspective. Sometimes this is hard because it often feels like a waste of time, and I often disagree with what is being said, but I still think it a good idea. How rigid are you in your viewpoints?

Peace