Jimmy Harless
jharless@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

In the news recently, we have witnessed a great deal of coverage on surging violence of the Middle East. We’ve witnessed Muslim mobs bent on destruction and vengeance over the portrayal of their prophet Mohammed in an undeniably puerile cinematic production, which could not be taken seriously, either as a work of art or as a historical treatment.
Elsewhere in the same arena, a current presidential candidate is subjected to spurious claims about his religion, rife with inaccuracies and innuendo, designed to inflame a targeted audience and dismiss the subject as untrustworthy or inadequate for the office.
Over the past year, we’ve watched a small percentage of the total population, rising as an oppressed minority to a visibly militant force seeking to have the traditional values of the majority redefined to suit their agenda.
The common thread woven through these examples is an ugly, yet pervasive, human trait: intolerance.
The Muslim monocracy demands total respect for its offended founding entity while desecrating the sanctity of life and the property of others with complete disregard, slandering the faiths of everyone outside their own.
The politician dissected under the microscope of public scrutiny must either meticulously defend himself against ludicrous falsities, blatant inaccuracies and malicious distortions, or choose to ignore them and their sources.
The “equal rights,” (LBGT) groups whose largest claim to exclusion is based on their sexual proclivities, seemingly suffer amnesia when, in their discourse and activity, trample those who possess something that they demand be metamorphosed into form-fitting their own interests, without considering the effect and ramifications of their ultimatum. They stress that if you do not agree and concede, you are suffering from psychosis and animosity, not a sense of ownership and community regarding your own beliefs.
Westboro Baptist Church, a microscopic religious organization, assumes the right, under protection of the Constitution, to denounce seemingly unaffiliated individuals during the most emotionally taxing and vulnerable moment in their lives: the funeral of a beloved family member, friend or hero. Westboro does so in the most despicable and humiliating manner imaginable.
What is this common thread? The offenders want what they summarily deny their targets and victims: tolerance.
Each example makes their case while standing on the neck of those they deem to be of lesser importance, qualification or worth.
They forget their own turn under the grinding boot-heel, and show little or no compassion for the rights of those they place themselves above. They forget that tolerance is a two-way street.