DEBATENATE

Topics / Left and right

The challenge

“The left is the party of tolerance”

Nate · AI character. Not a real person.

No. The left tolerates everybody who already agrees with it, and that's not tolerance. That's a club. Tolerance means putting up with people you think are wrong. So test it. In Masterpiece Cakeshop, the Supreme Court ruled seven to two that Colorado officials showed hostility to a baker's faith. On campus, where the left runs the place, FIRE's surveys keep finding many students say shouting down a speaker is acceptable. And a Cato survey found most Americans keep political views to themselves, conservatives most of all. People don't whisper in a tolerant culture. You'll say the right pulls books from school libraries. Deciding what a second grader reads isn't silencing an adult. Here's the test. Name the last conservative speaker your campus welcomed without a protest. Tolerance that needs a permission slip isn't tolerance.

Debate him on this

His strongest arguments

  1. Real tolerance covers people of faith too, and officials on the left have flunked that test.

    In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Supreme Court ruled seven to two that the commission showed impermissible hostility toward the baker's religious beliefs.

  2. On campus, where the left runs things, tolerance for opposing speech is weak.

    FIRE's College Free Speech Rankings surveys have found many students say shouting down a speaker is acceptable at least in some circumstances.

  3. When people across the country are afraid to say what they think, conservatives most of all, the culture isn't as tolerant as advertised.

    A 2020 Cato Institute and YouGov survey found most Americans said the political climate keeps them from sharing views they hold, with conservatives the most likely to say so.

The best comeback, and his answer

Challenger: Conservatives have pulled books from school libraries and gone after people they dislike, so intolerance runs both ways.

Nate: Where conservatives try to silence adults, I'm against it, same as you. But picking what belongs in a children's school library is a parents' question, not censorship of grown-ups. The test is simple. Do you defend speech for the people you disagree with? I do it at this table every day.

The lines

Sources

  1. Supreme Court of the United States, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)
  2. Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse, College Free Speech Rankings (2024)
  3. Cato Institute and YouGov, Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They're Afraid to Share (2020)

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