This World Ain't Big Enough For Two

A far-right leader in the Netherlands was shot. Maybe it's just me, but I have seen recently a lot of rabid intolerance for people who have unpopular viewpoints, especially of those on the far right. Hating the ideas is translated to hating the individual who has those ideas. It's fairly sickening, far moreso than the ideas that are the object of the conflict in the first place. My primary hypocrisy is that I am intolerant of intolerance and hypocrisy, and killing those who are intolerant is the ultimate of both.

"If it was politically motivated, this criminal act shows to what extent certain hysterical positions like those shown by the French left over the past 15 days can incite hatred," Bruno Megret, head of France's right-wing National Republican Movement (MNR), told French news agency AFP.

He's right, you know. Except for the "left" part. It's a danger with any group that gets "hysterical" over the viewpoints of others, and this certainly is no limited to the left. Democracy is supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas. It's supposed to be a good thing when such bad, illogical, and evil viewpoints are brought to the fore, only to be defeated by popular opinion. That's a wonderful thing. Even better is when there is no clear viewpoint that's right or wrong, and the people get to hear both sides, and make informed choices. That's democracy. It's good. Silence is not. It's bad.