Tammy Bruce: Tolerance

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As quoted by the California Patriot, the conservative alternative nespaper on the Berkeley Campus, [Graduate Assembly President Jessica] Quindel is a gold-plated example of moral relativism:  “Quindel, a self-avowed hater of the American Flag, the federal government, and the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ said she is still patriotic.  ‘It depends on your definition of patriotism.  Everyone has a different definition.’” [19]
     There is no solid ground beneath Ms. Quindel and so many others conditioned by leftists in the academy.  There is no sense of pride, guilt, or shame.  Everything is relative.  Nothing is definitive.  Nihilism rules the day.  Welcome to the World behind the Looking Glass.
     John Leo, in his column for U.S. News & World Report, tells how this growing inability to see right and wrong and to judge immoral acts leaves students confused about even the most obvious of depravities.  Leo wrote:  “Several years ago a college professor in upstate New York reported that 10 percent to 20 percent of his students could not bring themselves to criticize the Nazi extermination of Europe’s Jews.  Some students expressed personal distaste for what the Nazis did.  But they were not willing to say that the Nazis were wrong, since no culture can be judged from the outside and no individual can challenge the moral worldview of another.” [20]
     Odd, isn’t it?  These “postmodernists,” as Leo terms them, pontificate about how every culture should be taken on its own terms and claim that no judgment can be exercised about terrorists or terrorist nations.  They even manifest an inability to condemn one of the most depraved acts of the 20th century — the Holocaust.  And yet, these same people, who have been so warped they think Hitler’s inner child should be understood, have rallies and marches condemning the United States.  Of course, the double standard shouldn’t be too surprising.  Moral relativism acts as a terrific fig leaf for the Left Elite’s hatred of this country and desire for its destruction.
     We’ve heard things from “peace” activists essentially demanding that we try to understand bin Laden’s (and Arafat’s, and every other terrorist’s) personal pain and have respect and tolerance for Radical Islamists’ frustration at being “oppressed peoples.”  If this attitude prevails, we will end up “tolerating” ourselves to death, and will condemn Western civilization — which, it is safe to say, is the most progressive and greatest civilization on Earth — to a very compassionate dustbin.

[19]  Steve Sexton, “School Sponsored 911 Rememberence Day to Exclude Patriotic Symbols and Religious References,” California Patriot, 6 September 2002.  http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=2783

[20]  John Leo, “Professors Who See No Evil,” U.S. News & World Report (July 22, 2002).

Tammy Bruce
Chapter Six, “A Weapon in the Hands of the Left:  The Real Agenda of the Academic Elite”
The Death of Right and Wrong