The bigotry of tolerance

One of the more amusing tropes on the right is of course that Barack Obama is a Muslim. You see it all the time on various right wing websites  (which I spend way too much time on alas but that’s a diff blog post )

The left typically responds in two ways on their website either by loudly going on and on about “no way is he  Muslim he is as Christian as they they come “ or they will just link to a  piece of video\audio where a right winger calls Obama a Muslim and then let the viewer draw their conclusions about how awful the right is ( to be fair the right is pretty awful but my bias is showing )

I have always found both responses outstandingly offensive and pointless, the only correct response to “Obama is a Muslim” is of course “And So?”

and now we have something similar in the Garland Geller draw Muhammad shooting case

 

Leaving aside all the stuff about the first amendment and freedom and ISIS etc one common theme I am seeing from the so called tolerant left is the notion that “Pam Gellar has every right to do what she did but why would any decent person do this and why PROVOKE the Muslims”

As an example see this

 

This is someone who works for the NEW YORK TIMES . I honestly don’t even know where to begin when someone starts with “Free speech aside..” How would the NYT respond to the right saying stuff like

• “Rape aside ….”
• “Burglary aside redistribution feels good”
• “Global warming aside petrol is rather awesome”

This whole meme of provocation might sound like all tolerance and hugs but  is actually IMO incredibly bigoted , like very, very  insidious bigotry.

The real question “decent people” should ask is why is it assumed that Muslims will react violently to something some of them might find offensive , while it is assumed that Jews, Christians, Mormons, Hindus,  [insert your non-Muslim group here] will react to outrage by, well, acting civilized about it?

 From what I can tell just about every Muslim group here in the USA has condemned the shooting supported Ms. Gellar’s right to hold such an even and pointed out that  the cuntent ( not a typo) of f  Ms. Gellar's works and events speak for themselves

DO NOT go on and on about how it is wrong to provoke Muslims. You are not being tolerant but being deeply bigoted when you assume that Muslims have no way to react to provocation but with violence. Rejoice instead  in the ability of people to be civilized in the face of provocation .