The other day, a person of obvious liberal political persuasion that I used to follow on Twitter called me a "moron" and blocked me from following him anymore. This came after we had what I thought was a civil but spirited discussion on a certain issue that is currently in the news. I did not curse him or in any way use any kind of abusive language against him, and I did not resort to any kind of name-calling. Therefore, I was surprised that he decided to abruptly end things the way he did.
Actually, based on my past experience with and observation of liberals over the years, I should not have been surprised. This was not the first time one of them had blocked me on Twitter because they objected to my views. While liberals give a lot lip service to tolerance, many of them are very intolerant of opposing views. Yes, I know there are conservatives who do the same, but liberals seem to be guilty of it more often. And one would think the opposite would be true, considering how liberals seem to worship the notion of tolerance.
Whenever a conservative talk show host makes a stupid, insensitive, hostile, or otherwise disgusting remark, there will always be plenty of liberals coming out of the woodwork to call for that person to be fired. Many of them will use tactics such as boycotts and public protests in an effort to have the offender removed from the air. They will justify their actions by claiming this person has an invalid point of view and that he or she does not deserve to be heard. And they will often resort to name-calling as well. They seem to love the word "moron", such as was used against me.
Now when a liberal talk show host makes a similar statement, conservatives will criticize him or her without pulling any punches. One thing that most of them won't do, however, is try to have that person fired or censored. Also, when a liberal comes to speak at a conservative institution such as Liberty University, he or she is treated politely and not interrupted. Conversely, whenever a conservative is invited to speak at a mainstream college or university (most of which are dominated by liberal ideology), he or she is often met with protests and is sometimes shouted down while trying to speak.
Here's another thing I've noticed as well. On the primetime TV talk shows, those hosted by conservatives generally have at one least liberal as a guest each night. On the other hand, conservatives are rarely invited to argue their case on shows hosted by liberals. For example, compare Bill O'Reilly's and Sean Hannity's programs on Fox with Ed Schultz's and Rachel Maddow's programs on MSNBC that air at the same time.
Despite the way liberals try to depict them, most conservatives place a great value on free speech. They know that removing certain voices from the marketplace of ideas, no matter how much they might disagree with them, is counterproductive and hurts everyone in the long run.
As a conservative/libertarian, I am interested in hearing and reading opinions from all sides. I have never blocked anyone on Twitter, and I wouldn't unless someone was spamming me or becoming abusive. I certainly would not block someone because I disagreed, no matter how strongly, with what they had to say. To me, life would be a lot more boring if I limited my hearing and reading to only those with whom I agreed.
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Hopewell, VA. On his blog - http://www.CommenTerry.blogs.com - he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and well-being, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.
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