1 00:00:02,350 --> 00:00:03,350 Tolerance. 2 00:00:03,350 --> 00:00:05,180 It’s a word we hear a lot these days. 3 00:00:05,180 --> 00:00:06,740 So, let’s define it. 4 00:00:06,740 --> 00:00:12,740 Tolerance is “the ability to live with people whose opinions and behavior you don’t agree with.” 5 00:00:12,740 --> 00:00:17,820 That’s essentially how Oxford defines it, how Merriam-Webster defines it, and how we, 6 00:00:17,820 --> 00:00:20,840 as a society, have always defined it. 7 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,840 You might be for the death penalty, and your cousin might be against it. 8 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,340 You might be against a $15 minimum wage, and your coworker might be for it. 9 00:00:29,340 --> 00:00:33,040 Your dad might have voted for Trump, your mom might have voted for Clinton, and your 10 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:35,440 brother may not have voted at all. 11 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:41,320 Whatever differences we have, tolerating others’ opinions is a prerequisite to a functioning 12 00:00:41,329 --> 00:00:43,180 and free society. 13 00:00:43,180 --> 00:00:46,989 America itself was built on a foundation of tolerance. 14 00:00:46,989 --> 00:00:52,860 The Declaration of Independence guarantees us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 15 00:00:52,860 --> 00:00:58,179 But there’s an implicit contract there: To have your life, your liberty, and your 16 00:00:58,179 --> 00:01:03,499 pursuit of happiness, you have to be tolerant of somebody else’s life, their liberty, 17 00:01:03,500 --> 00:01:05,480 and their pursuit of happiness. 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,000 This contract, though, seems to be breaking down. 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,640 If you listen to the mainstream media, only one side is living up to this deal: the left. 20 00:01:15,649 --> 00:01:22,280 The right, according to the media, is intolerant of everyone...except those darned white, heterosexual, 21 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:23,880 Christian males. 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:25,340 There’s only one problem. 23 00:01:25,340 --> 00:01:27,360 It’s just not true. 24 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:33,160 Incredibly, the left isn’t even tolerant of the very people they say they’re tolerant of! 25 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:38,060 If you’re gay, or black, or an immigrant, and you’re not in lockstep with current 26 00:01:38,060 --> 00:01:42,250 leftist orthodoxy, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 27 00:01:42,250 --> 00:01:47,189 If you believe we should judge people on the content of their character and not the color 28 00:01:47,189 --> 00:01:50,270 of their skin, the left calls you “racist.” 29 00:01:50,270 --> 00:01:54,850 If you believe that America is a nation of immigrants, but that our country should also 30 00:01:54,850 --> 00:01:58,350 protect its borders, the left calls you a “xenophobe.” 31 00:01:58,350 --> 00:02:02,280 If you believe that men and women are equal but fundamentally different, 32 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,300 the left calls you “sexist.” 33 00:02:04,300 --> 00:02:08,820 Here’s the thing: those who only tolerate people they agree with or like… 34 00:02:08,820 --> 00:02:10,760 aren’t actually tolerant. 35 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,420 So, who is tolerant? 36 00:02:12,420 --> 00:02:18,160 Is it the organizers of the Women's March, who had to apologize for the “hurt and confusion” 37 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:24,510 they caused when they invited a man—leftist icon Bernie Sanders—to speak at their convention? 38 00:02:24,510 --> 00:02:31,040 Is it the Antifa thugs, who caused UC Berkeley to spend $600,000 on security when mainstream 39 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,220 conservative Ben Shapiro showed up to give a talk? 40 00:02:34,220 --> 00:02:39,771 Or is it democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters, who scolded Kanye West for “talking out 41 00:02:39,780 --> 00:02:45,120 of turn” when he dared suggest that blacks should think for themselves? 42 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:46,780 These aren’t isolated examples. 43 00:02:46,780 --> 00:02:51,900 I’m guessing that you—person watching this right now—have silenced yourself because 44 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:55,660 you don’t want to suffer the wrath of the outrage mob. 45 00:02:55,660 --> 00:02:59,580 So, let me ask the question again: Who is tolerant? 46 00:02:59,580 --> 00:03:04,550 Well, here’s the surprise: It’s actually those “scary” right-wingers that the media 47 00:03:04,550 --> 00:03:07,660 and the universities demonize every day. 48 00:03:07,660 --> 00:03:09,760 I speak from personal experience. 49 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:14,080 Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment here, but I still consider myself a liberal. 50 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,640 And it’s my duty as a liberal to say what I think. 51 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:22,700 I would rather stand for what I believe and be hated than bow down and be loved. 52 00:03:22,710 --> 00:03:28,400 The left, sadly, has become utterly intolerant of anyone with whom they disagree. 53 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:29,220 Why? 54 00:03:29,220 --> 00:03:33,960 Because they believe that they know how you should live and how you should think. 55 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,840 Any deviation, any non-conformity, is dangerous to that goal. 56 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:43,840 Believe it or not, the right, these days, actually welcomes diversity of thought. 57 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:48,310 I can tell you that in the last few years of my political evolution, I’ve consistently 58 00:03:48,310 --> 00:03:52,440 found conservatives to be tolerant and open-minded. 59 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,260 Don’t take my word for it, though. 60 00:03:54,260 --> 00:03:55,650 Test it out for yourself. 61 00:03:55,650 --> 00:03:57,380 Go talk to some. 62 00:03:57,380 --> 00:04:02,120 They do exist, and they do things like watch movies, travel, and eat ethnic food 63 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,220 —you know, regular people things. 64 00:04:04,220 --> 00:04:05,660 You know what I found out? 65 00:04:05,660 --> 00:04:10,860 The right, much more than the left, believes in the notion of “live and let live.” 66 00:04:10,860 --> 00:04:15,150 And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the true definition of tolerance. 67 00:04:15,150 --> 00:04:19,000 I'm Dave Rubin, of The Rubin Report, for Prager University.