The fake concept of so-called "tolerance."

How often do we hear the term?

How one-sided is it?  How much is it bastardized?  How much is it used as a one-sided cudgel?

noun \ˈtä-lə-rən(t)s, ˈtäl-rən(t)s\: willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.

Seems simple enough.... straight forward... easy to understand.

And absolutely one-sided.

Ever since that simple-minded, clueless idiot moved into the White House, for example, what have those of us smart enough to oppose the various disasters of his policies been called?

Racist bigots.

Don't agree with his idiotic foreign policies... his murder of 4 in Benghazi?  His efforts to destroy our economy and bury us in debt?  His release of confirmed jihadists from Gitmo.... his use of our troops as cannon fodder, his efforts to cave to Iran, a country directly responsible for the deaths and maimings of thousands of American troops, etc?

Why, racism is what obviously motivates you.

Here, recently, I observed that I believed Portland to be the hypocrisy capital of the world, in part because of their situational, one-sided use of the demand of "tolerance," a demand limited to precisely one side of any issue, an  adjective those on the left never extend to anyone on the right who may happen to disagree with the fringe-left nuttery de jour.

This, in addition to my support of Phil Robertson, who the left no more "tolerates" than they can levitate.

Here's a sampling of the "tolerant" responses my observation received:

Briana Donovan Not surprising coming from someone with a Duck Dynasty bigot as their profile picture.

To which I replied:

As you stand as evidence of my position, I appreciate your statement of it.

Your lack of tolerance, typically hypocritical of your ilk, proves the charge I've brought up.

Thank you so much.

Which brought this effort:

Jose Dee Your rights end where other people's begin. No one should tolerate your right to be intolerant. Besides there a such thing called the 14th amendment and the equal protection clause. Bet you've never read it.

Naturally, nothing this person said is relevant to the issues at hand... certainly the 14th Amendment does not in any way trump my right to free speech or Phil's, for that matter.

To which, I responded:

Swell. So no one, then, should tolerate YOUR right to be intolerant... which, of course, is what you're being here... and is further proof of my point.

While I appreciate your effort to deflect, the 14th Amendment is irrelevant to the bigotry and hypocrisy of those who demand "tolerance," but who then, in turn, refuse to extend it.

"Tolerance" isn't a one-way street. Yet to read most of the comments, that's precisely what you people believe it to be.

Those who don't ascribe to your view aren't afforded tolerance (Unless they're Muslim, of course, because if you attack them for these perspectives, then it's a battle of the bigots... so typically, none of you have a cross word to say about their efforts to hang homosexuals or otherwise execute them) instead they're attacked merely because they happen to have a different view.

You and your ilk believe themselves to have complete freedom to express your views without any fear of retribution or retaliation from ANYONE... and certainly not the loss of your job.

But again, you people absolutely refuse to extend that same courtesy to anyone who disagrees with you... and that, of course, is where the rank, reeking hypocrisy Portland exhibits comes from.

You expect everyone else to tolerate YOUR views, while you and your ilk refuse to do the same for those who disagree. Simple, really. And it's fake tolerance, at best... downright hypocrisy at worst.

Meanwhile, I'll double-check my polisci degree, just on the off chance the Constitution/Bill of Rights ever came up.

You know... in passing?

In it's own way, tolerance is not unlike charity: one engages in charity and provides it, or one doesn't.  One is charitable, or one isn't.  One is tolerant, or one isn't.

To me, it's astounding that those who demand tolerance the most are those the least likely to extend it to others... which is the entire basis for my position that the left generally, and the leftist capitol of the Northwestern United States specifically is the capitol of hypocrites.