Intolerance and Tribalism: The New American Left

Former President Barack Obama delivered another speech on Tuesday; this time to a crowd of about 6,000 people in Montreal.  Following the speech, the Former President had dinner with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; with whom he shares a similar worldview.  It’s safe to say that many in the American mainstream media wish they could swap leaders with our neighbor to the north.     

 

In addition to praising the non-binding Paris Climate Agreement and mentioning how openness to immigration is “fundamental to who we are”, he criticized those who believe that “intolerance and tribalism and organizing ourselves along ethnic lines are the answer to today’s challenges.”  While his comments were directed at those on the right; they actually do a much better job of describing the left. 

 

The left always likes to paint the right as intolerant; but the left is far more intolerant than the right.  It is always the left that is preventing those with political opinions they don’t like from speaking on college campuses. If a conservative isn’t prevented from speaking, he or she might have to worry about getting attacked with pepper spray.  The left prevented the New Wave Feminists and the Students for Life of America from marching at the Women’s March on Washington because they were intolerant of the groups’ pro-life stance on abortion.  Most recently, the organizers of a Pride Parade in Charlotte denied the group Gays for Trump’s application for a float in the parade because they were intolerant of the group’s support for the President.

 

Despite what the left and the media would have you believe, the Republican Party is actually quite tolerant.  The party has been nicknamed “The Big Tent Party” because it is able to accommodate various groups of people with diverse opinions on major issues such as immigration, taxes, social issues, and foreign policy.  As long as the Democrats keep demanding ideological purity on abortion, they will continue to be a fringe party of radical feminists and minority grievance groups that struggles to appeal to those not living in big cities or college towns.           

         

 

As for tribalism and organizing along ethnic lines, that is the left’s specialty.  Remember when Madeline Albright said that “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”  The Former Secretary of State made that comment last year while campaigning for another Former Secretary of State; Hillary Clinton.  Demanding that all women vote for Hillary just because of her gender certainly sounds like tribalism to me.  Even Albright’s former boss Bill Clinton has come out against this type of identity politics, saying “I believe that in ways large and small, peaceful and sometimes violent, that the biggest threat to the future of our children and grandchildren is the poison of identity politics that preaches that our differences are far more important than our common humanity.”  It should be noted that Former President Clinton made these remarks before his wife officially launched her 2016 Presidential Bid.

 

Organizing along ethnic lines has been taken to the extreme at American college campuses.  The inevitable result of this type of organization has led every ethnic group to demand its own safe space; thus reversing the decades of progress made toward creating an integrated society.  For an example of this, look no further than Evergreen State College.  This year’s “Day of Absence” asked white students and faculty to stay home as minority students attended events on campus.  White Biology Professor Bret Weinstein refused to comply with the request.  A month after the “Day of Absence”, a group of students harassed Weinstein outside of his classroom for refusing to participate.  Things got so out of control that Weinstein, whose politics are left of center, was told by local police that he should hold his classes off campus due to concerns for his safety.  Weinstein had previously written an e-mail expressing his discontent with the premise behind the “Day of Absence”, saying  “On a college campus, one’s right to speak—or to be—should never be based on skin color.”  The student protesters gathered outside of Weinstein’s classroom were obviously not impressed with that statement; some of them even called for his resignation.  Weinstein attempted to engage in a conversation with the mob of students but the “tolerant” snowflakes rejected his offer.  If these students are representative of the millennials that will someday be running our country, it is safe to say we are all screwed.

 

Former President Obama is correct when he says “intolerance and tribalism and organizing ourselves along ethnic lines are not the answer to today’s challenges.”  Perhaps he should share that message with the students of Evergreen College, Madeline Albright, the organizers of the Charlotte Pride Parade, and the organizers of the Women’s March; who so desperately need to hear it.