Why is it that “tolerance” seems to be expected only of Western democracies? Would anyone in their right mind really expect tolerance from Communist China? Of course not: Intolerance is accepted as the norm in tyrannical regimes. Sure, the intolerance exemplified by Putin’s treatment of homosexuals in Russia resulted in a bit of a dust up a while back; but in light of the millions killed by Putin’s ilk in that country as a result of intolerance, the worldwide response to his treatment of people based on their sexual orientation was laughable. In fact, the same type (if not the same individuals) who so loudly criticized Vlad were fumbling all over themselves not so long ago to excuse the excesses of his Communist predecessors in the former Soviet Union. You know who you are.
Nobody really expects tolerance from tyrannical governments, do they? Do we not, instead, expect them to be intolerant? After all, they wouldn’t be tyrannical if they were tolerant of opposing viewpoints, lifestyles, etc. And some of the least tolerant regimes (and people) in the world apparently reside in the Middle East. Yet unequivocal tolerance is expected of those of us in the West—it’s a heavy burden to bear.
Although one could make a convincing argument that we’re on a fast track to tyranny in the United States, we apparently don’t get the same break from the Left that the Chinese and the Russians do. Instead, we’re still expected to be tolerant of everything and everybody, regardless of whether their points of view, lifestyles, religion, etc. affect us or not. Tolerance has, in fact, become something of a religion unto itself in the USA, as well as in most of the rest of the Western world; and the damage done by the religion of tolerance is evident. Witness the recent riots and horrific murders in France and in England, where an Islamic fanatic randomly beheaded an eighty-two-year-old woman in her garden.
Isn’t it only a matter of time before the same kinds of atrocities occur on our own soil? It seems that, no matter how much damage a group of people does to our country—to us—we are expected to be tolerant of that group. This “tolerance religion” is closely related to the cancer of political correctness, and both are brought to you by the self-loathing American Left.
When it comes to the animalistic violence carried out by Islamists, we’re told that they’re not all that way; and that the majority of them would never do that…right? That’s a true statement, of course; but so what? To paraphrase Brigitte Gabriel (who’s absolutely brilliant, by the way), the majority of any group is irrelevant if it remains silent or takes no action while the minority does great harm. This was true under the Nazis in Germany, under the Communists in the Soviet Union, under Mao in China, and in many other places throughout history—most notably of late in the Muslim world.
It’s been estimated that roughly 15-25% of the 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide are “radical”. Let’s be charitable and say it’s “only” 10%. That equates to about 120 million Muslim fanatics who’ve made no secret of their desire to follow some of the more cringe-worthy verses in the Qur’an to the letter. That’s a lot of fanatics. And yet we’re constantly reminded—by President Obama, his mindless Secretary of State (pick one), and a lapdog mainstream media—that we must be tolerant of the Muslim faith…even though well over a hundred million of them want to kill us in unspeakable ways.
Regardless of their claims or the claims of their apologists and enablers in the U.S. and elsewhere, the Islamic fanatics who attacked us on September 11th 2001 committed their cowardly acts not out of retaliation for past “imperialist transgressions” by the United States (all of which have been apologized for profusely by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, by the way), but out of a profound hatred of us—specifically of our culture and our majority Christian faith. Okay, fine; game on. Over the ensuing thirteen years, we’ve arranged for hundreds of thousands of the crazies to receive their 72 virgins from Allah (do the math on that…we’re talking a lot of virgins!). And there will be many more to follow. I’m not advocating taking any sort of “action” against Islam as a whole, but don’t tell me I have to be tolerant of it, either—and, for Heaven’s sake, stop calling it a “religion of peace”. It’s not.
As I write this on September 11th of 2014, I can recall virtually every moment of that day thirteen years ago when a tiny little “minority” of nineteen Islamists struck such a horrific blow against the greatest country ever conceived of by the mind of man (there, I said it). I remember watching as the plane hit the second tower; I remember seeing people jump out of windows to their certain death to escape the fire inside the towers; and I remember seeing innocent people trampled to death in the stampede created on the streets below. But what I remember most about that day is a video of Muslims in the Middle East dancing in the streets in celebration of what had happened to us. That picture of women and children—allegedly from among the “majority”—applauding and laughing about the inhuman acts that had been carried out by the radical minority will forever be etched in my mind.
I frankly don’t care whether or not “the Islamic State isn’t Islamic”, as Obama told us. And I don’t care that the majority of them would never do that. Unless and until the majority of Muslims worldwide not only loudly and publicly denounces but also takes physical steps to eradicate the vermin that make up their minority, don’t ask me to be tolerant of them.
Though it’s imperfect, there’s something special about the United States of America; and it has nothing to do with our tolerance. The people of the United States of America have an almost unbelievable capacity to love and to forgive…and to be tolerant of almost anything. We—by and large—want to live our lives within the loose framework constructed by our Founders, unencumbered by bureaucracy and left alone by know-it-alls who have a tendency to try to tell us what’s good for us.
But when you poke us with a stick and ask, “What ‘ya gonna do about it?” Don’t be surprised if we do something violent back to you. And if you’re part of the group whose “minority” is doing the poking, don’t expect tolerance. Instead, rise up yourself and take the damn stick away.
Rob Olive
9/11/14