Are we fighting Intolerance with Intolerance?

What the fuck is going on in this country?

So I keep seeing something interesting from conservatives. While they are going on and on about how black people don't deserve the same rights as them, how there's a war against christmas, about how we need to protect ourselves by barring refugees because there might possibly be a terrorist that could slip through with the rest, how islam is an evil religion, how muslims should be on a registry, how the government is trying to control them and take away their rights to bear arms and discriminate against people because of their religion.... While all that shit is going on, they - in the same breath - say that liberals are being so intolerant towards them. They somehow have the audacity to say racist, sexist, evil shit in one breath, and in the next complain about people objecting to what they have to say.

They call liberals "special snowflakes" and talk about us needing "safe spaces" so our feelings don't get hurt, but in the wave of anti-hate speech following the election by people who voted for Hillary and were disgusted by Trump supporters, I saw fliers up around my university inviting republicans to a space where they could talk about their happiness with the election results and talk about how white people are just genetically better than anyone else, specifically mentioning that they wouldn't face persecution for their speech at this meeting. Is that not their "safe space"? While they make fun of the fact that "trigger warnings" are so stupid, they themselves need them. While they say that liberals are "whining" about losing the election, they whine that people aren't even "giving Trump a chance" and that if they don't like it they should leave the country. If anyone is a goddamn "special snowflake" its the fucking conservatives that are butthurt that we didn't all shut up and go along with them when Trump won. It's like they thought the second Trump was elected, everyone would turn conservative, liberals would spontaneously combust, and that every person belonging to a minority group would instantaneously move somewhere else. 

I wonder sometimes about the idea that liberals are intolerant towards racist, sexist, homophobic assholes. They can't have it both ways. We aren't either intolerant to everything the way they are, or tolerant of everything including their shittery. The liberals I know are tolerant of other people having different religious beliefs, different cultural backgrounds, different skin tines, different countries of origin, different languages and foods, different sexual preferences, different sexual identities. We are tolerant of people who want to break from "traditional roles" expected of men and women, of men who want to stay home and raise the children, or women who want to have a high powered job as well as kids, of women who never want to have kids, of people who want to marry someone of the same gender, and raise a family with them. We are tolerant of people who want to make their own choices regarding their lives, such as when and if they have children, who they marry, what holidays they celebrate, who they have sex with. It's none of our goddamn business what they do, as long as it's not causing harm to any other person. That is how we are "tolerant". 

However, the idea that because of those things - because we have respect for other people conducting their lives the way they want to live them without us butting in telling them it's "immoral" or wrong - somehow it's expected that we'll be tolerant of people who are dickheads and go out of their way to cause mental, emotional, and physical harm to others? How the fuck does that make any sense at all?

We protested Trump because he embodies the very idea of intolerance. He made it okay for people to be openly racist, sexist, homophobic, islamophobic. He made it okay for them to threaten others with physical violence, simply because they had different beliefs about religion or different "morals". He made it okay for guys to sexually assault women and walk away laughing about it (as though there wasn't a big enough problem with that already). He made it okay to make fun of disabled people (didn't we realize how fucked up that was years ago?). He made it okay to be a disgusting horrible person, and be proud of that. That is why we were protesting. That is why we were showing that we would not tolerate people being hateful to each other without an incredibly good reason for it (like they raped someone or murdered someone or abused humans/animals). We shouted "Love not Hate" in the streets to say that we would not tolerate this vicious hate that seemed to be getting quite popular. We said that we would not stand by and let conservatives intimidate, scare, assault other people just because they decided on some arbitrary issue that they "deserved it". 

So yeah, I guess by that definition we are intolerant. We are intolerant of hate. We are intolerant of humans treating other people like shit. We are intolerant of sexual assault. We are intolerant of forcing people to be someone they are not. We are intolerant of Trump and the people who voted for him with full understanding of what he stood for and what he promoted. 

So go ahead. Laugh about how intolerant liberals are while at the same time saying they're "special snowflakes" that need a safe space. You try and hurt someone near me because you are vicious fucking asshole, and see what a "special snowflake" I am. I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't stand by and watch bullying happen in front of me. I wasn't going to watch a man assault his girlfriend in front of me. I wasn't going to watch people getting hurt and not do anything. If I see someone being attacked in any way just because of who they are, I have no problem throwing myself in the middle and causing as much verbal or physical harm to the attacker as humanly possible. Does that make me intolerant? Probably, but that's something I think I can live with.

*My views are not necessarily representative of the entire group known as "liberals", or any group. My beliefs and thoughts are my own and I choose this blog to be an outlet for my frustration at my community, my country, and the world in general.*