Thursday, September 17, 2015

University is intolerant of intolerance

I sometime hear:
If there's one thing I cannot tolerate, it's intolerance.
Usually it is a joke, but it may soon be official policy:
The University of California is committed to protecting its bedrock values of respect, inclusion, and academic freedom. Free expression and the open exchange of ideas — principles enshrined in our national and state Constitutions — are part of the University’s fiber. So, too, is tolerance, and University of California students, faculty, and staff must respect the dignity of each person within the UC community.

Intolerance has no place at the University of California. We define intolerance as unwelcome conduct motivated by discrimination against, or hatred toward, other individuals or groups. ...

Everyone in the University community has the right to study, teach, conduct research, and work free from acts and expressions of intolerance. The University will respond promptly and effectively to reports of intolerant behavior ...
So if a Christian explains his beliefs by describing how they are superior to Islam, he is likely to be accused of Islamophobia, hatred, and intolerance.

Another example is Mozilla's discriminatory anti-discrimination crusade. The CEO announced that an employee would be fired if he badmouthed feminists in an anonymous Reddit account. The previous CEO was fired for being against same-sex marriage 6 years earlier.

The NY Times is also a big advocate of being intolerant of intolerance, as in this editorial in favor of cutting off money to religious colleges who do not go along with the gay agenda. It says:
This past June, in the heat of their outrage over gay rights, congressional Republicans revived a nasty bit of business they call the First Amendment Defense Act. ...

In reality, the act would bar the federal government from taking “any discriminatory action” — including the denial of tax benefits, grants, contracts or licenses — against those who oppose same-sex marriage for religious or moral reasons. ...

For example, a religiously affiliated college that receives federal grants could fire a professor simply for being gay and still receive those grants. ...

This bizarre fixation on what grown-ups do in their bedrooms — which has long since been rejected by the Supreme Court and the vast majority of Americans — is bad enough.
The Republicans are not the ones with a "fixation on what grown-ups do in their bedrooms". I do not think that I have heard a Republican politician even mention that in years. I do hear people arguing on an almost daily basis that everyone must be forced to accept homosexuality, but those people are almost entirely Democrats.

Germany is not going to tolerate any dissent over its plan to import a flood of Syrians:
Berlin (AFP) - Facebook pledged Monday to combat racist hate speech on its German-language network amid a spike in xenophobic comments online as Germany faces an unprecedented influx of refugees.

The US social media network said it would encourage "counter speech" and step up monitoring of anti-foreigner commentary, as company representatives met German Justice Minister Heiko Maas.

With Germany facing a record influx of refugees and a backlash ...

Facebook has urged its users to report offensive postings ...
Again, this intolerance is being done in the name of fighting intolerance.

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