Len;

Extremists exist amongst any group. In the arena of politics people on the Left or Right can be extremely intolerant. Some individuals and groups believe in only their own doctrine and will not allow others to express a different viewpoint.

Attitudes of society differ according to geographical location. Sometimes this may be a short distance but usually not. An example is tolerance of specific groups and intolerance towards others being expressed in a specific location.

During the 1980’s in San Francisco, California, a man rented a store to a group of American Nazis, will full knowledge of who they were. For months they occupied the store and held meetings to further the cause of the organization and its members. One day the nephew of the owner had the San Francisco police forcefully (this was recorded by a TV news crew) entered the store (broke down the glass front door, and entered the premises where they destroyed everything in sight. They served an eviction notice (which was the responsibility of the Sheriff) after beating the men inside, who were defenseless. No weapons were found. The nephew said his uncle should have known better to rent the store to Nazis as the owner was Jewish!

In Raleigh, North Carolina, a group of Communists had obtained a permit to parade in that city. A TV news crew filmed the activity. As the parade began several men with 44 magnums ran behind the people in the parade. They fired point blank (within inches) at the head of one man, which exploded, and several others were shot. The entire event was caught on film and the guilty men were arrested for murder. At the trial the men were acquitted for their action as they had KKK, and Nazi affiliation.

The above story illuminated for me the difference between the East Coast or Southern part of the United States and the West Coast or San Francisco Bay Area. The East Coast is tolerant towards Nazis and the West Coast is tolerant towards Communists. Individual rights differ in our nation dependent upon your location.

Anyone who believes a fanatical doctrine and is a member of a group so inspired is subject to mob rule. They will be caught up into a series of events that a rational person would never enjoy. And all the while they will express, “I am right and you are wrong”!

I would suggest we are “right” within ourselves. Trying to express your political views with a gun or police power is an ugly event. This is an issue that could fill volumes and has.

True tolerance does not exist. What is called tolerance is in fact a definite acceptance of one set of rules at the exclusion of others. This is entirely inconsistent with logic but then we are talking about humans and there is no logic where created intelligence is found but rather paradox abounds.

Tom


>>Tolerance of other views is not a domain occupied by the left. In fact, on many college campuses in the USA the left dominates political thought and won't all any 'unapproved' speakers, organizations, etc... What they claimed they didn't have in the 60's with their 'free speach' movements (but actually did) is exactly what they now, as administrators and professors, won't allow to others. Extremists on the left meet extremists on the right on the opposite side of the big political circle.
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>Now us on the left would claim that "Tolerance of other views is not a domain occupied by the right".
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>I think it is often the case that the ones most often heard, left or right, are the ones who are most convinced that they are right (as in correct) and have the ambition to get into a position where they can impose those views on the rest. Very often they subvert a small part of the doctrine that they are espousing that is most useful to them & ignore the rest - as you say, many of the "free speech" movement propose free speech as long as it is in line with their views. On the other side of the coin, you have the "politically correct", who don't want to hear any views that may be considered offensive by any group (usually minorities).
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>I think it is most important that we all hear &, most importantly, listen to everyone's views, including those we don't like. Until we understand the other persons viewpoint, how do we go about convincing him he is wrong, or at least that we are not wrong.