Last month, after Rep. Giffords and five others were killed outside of a Safeway store in Tucson, AZ. the opinion pages were full of folks on the left blaming conservatives, the Tea Party, talk radio, and Sarah Palin for rhetoric that led the shooter to target Rep. Giffords. A month and a half later we now know that rhetoric, political or otherwise, had absolutely nothing to do with why Jared Loughner decided to shoot his congresswoman. We knew that almost as soon as we knew the shooter’s name;Â that did not stop the left from laming conservatives anyway.
The left tries to portray themselves as some sort of compassionate group that only wants the best for everyone. I cannot count the number of times I have heard somebody on the left say this or that policy is “for the children” as if conservatives or the right are a bunch of unfeeling monsters that only care about denying a woman her RIGHT to an abortion. The left seemingly has the market on tolerance cornered. Or at least one would think so from listening to them. The thing about the tolerance of the left though is that it is only for things they approve of. Homosexuality, abortion, slavery reparations, rights of criminals, anti-militarism, atheism, and any number of other left approved issues are grist for the tolerance mill. Their tolerance only extends to those who agree with their doctrine, yes I call it a doctrine.
What got me today was this article about an ex-soldier, also a student, who spoke at a forum about the return of ROTC to Columbia University and was heckled and jeered by the supposedly enlightened students in the crowd. Now, I don’t know that the students are on the left of the political spectrum, I am assuming they are. That seems a fairly safe assumption to me. HuffPo has also picked up this story, some of the comments there are perfect examples for tolerance.
This student, Anthony Maschek, is a veteran of the Iraq War who just got out of the hospital after two years recovering from being shot 11 times and decided to enroll in Columbia. I just wonder what thoughts go through the heads of the kids that heckled him. They are no doubt pampered, spoiled brats with no life experience behind them than high school, yet they presume to cast judgment on a man who put his life on the line to defend their rights to insult him. The conduct of hecklers is a symptom of everything that is wrong with American society.
If nothing else, Maschek deserves their respect for being willing to give back to the society that raised him. Yet they cannot even find it within themselves to do that. Young people that act like that make me want to smack their parents for not raising them right. Because at heart, it is not the kids fault that they are boors and uncouth, it is the fault of their parents. There is something seriously wrong in our society when people cannot debate or even discuss in a civil manner. I don’t think the left has a monopoly on boorish behavior, there are definitely people on the right that are not interested in debate either. From my perspective, it is the left that are the bigger hypocrites though.
I understand opposing a policy, and even protesting it. But where is the much called for civility that those on the left were calling for just one month ago in an incident like this?