A rebuttal, if you will. Andrew Malcom is making the claim that because 16% of liberals on social networking sites shut out wingnuts during heated political discussions, that is proof that liberals are, in fact, the intolerant ones. Just like we're the real racists, we're also the Real Meanies.
I have to tell you that I've seen some pretty weak sauce in my time, but this argument would hardly pass for weak gruel. Firstly, there's the statistic--16%? Good grief, that's not a terribly shocking or convincing number. Secondly, there's this : I'm not sure how to tolerate things like misogyny, racism, homophobia and xenophobia-- all things that make up the backbone of wingnut ideology. I mean, yes, if you think that paying for birth control as a part of comprehensive government-mandated coverage is outrageous because ZOMG SLUTZ!, I'm not sure where to take the conversation from there. If you think Obama is illegitimate because he's Black/Interracial/A Chicago Thug/Dependent on Teleprompters/Muslim/Kenyan/Dines on the fetuses he's ripped from the wombs of Good Christian White Women, I don't know what to tell you.
I've waxed angry poetic on the subject of climate change denialism, before. It's for similar reasons I'm not sympathetic to the "liberals are intolerant meanies" argument. I'm not sure where to even begin conversing with someone who, say, doesn't believe in evolution. And if you're willing to dismiss the vast majority of scientific evidence proving climate change is in large part manmade in favor of bought and paid for "experts" representing Big Business, I'll admit it: I officially throw my hands up in frustration. So much of wingnut ideology is not just conversation-ending, it's conversation-non-starting.
Oh, and there's also the idea that stopping communication is inherently mean. In fact, I find that ignoring someone is the best way to prevent Internet Drama (something I simply won't tolerate) and to prevent escalation. It doesn't surprise me that it would never occur to Mr. Malcom that liberals may shut down conversation as a way of actually maintaining some semblance of civility.
One more thing I've been thinking about lately...I really loathe it when political pundits begin a thought with the sentence "The American people aren't stupid..." Pandering nonsense. In fact, the closeness of all our elections proves that a significant portion of our electorate is made up of unengaged morons.