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Read other letters about this article
Often those on the right like to point out when Dems harshly disparage or insult people like Senator Helms that so-called agents of tolerance aren't being very tolerant.
I've often thought about this charge, and I have to say that I don't buy it.
Indulge me for a moment: are the right-wingers who argue that the left is hypocritical because we don't suffer hatemongers like Helms actually arguing that as purported 'agents of tolerance,' we lefties should tolerate being insulted and denigrated not only for our beliefs, but in many cases for having been born at all?
Tolerance doesn't mean sainthood. It doesn't mean suffering the rantings and ravings of those who rile up people that would wish us harm.
And don't kid yourself, AJCalhoun. The people that lynched blacks in the South shared Jesse Helms' views on "negroes." The people that crucified Matthew Shepard on that fence in Wyoming shared Jesse Helms' views on "sodomites." And you can damn well bet that the people who shoot and kill abortion doctors feel the way Helms felt about "baby-killers."
So no, I'm not going to tolerate those who wish me and my kind harm.
And if you don't think that Helms and his kind DID wish me and my kind harm, you're wrong.
Tolerance is not a suicide pact.
