Pity the Left and Its Offspring

2014 may well be remembered (by those who recall beyond the 24-hour news cycle) as The Year The Left Showed its True Colors. Of course, people who study the Left are not surprised. Leftism is a religion, and its devotees, fanatical. Unlike devotees of true religion, however, Leftists are not content to simply believe their creeds and coexist peacefully with those who differ. Leftists, at their core, are at war with those who differ from them. 

I looked up the word jihad, and the definition seems apropos. In the context of Islam, it means "a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty." But the broader meaning, "a crusade for a principle of belief," sums up what the Left is engaged in. 

A few recent examples:

• Calling those who believe the jury's still out regarding man-caused climate change deniers (word association: Holocaust deniers).  

• Calling those who adhere to the the time-honored, Judeo-Christian, Biblical definition of one man/one woman marriage bigots and pressure them to resign unless they recant (you heard that correctly, recant). 

• Denying someone an honorary doctorate and refusing to let her speak at college commencement because she has the temerity to tell the truth about radical Islam. 

This is the strategy of the Left. Don't merely disagree with those who hold different views or challenge them to a debate. No, you must shun them. Debate is not an option since to debate is to concede that maybe a middle ground exists.

And so the Left traipses merrily along. 

I pity its followers, in a way, especially the young people, so proud of their progressive views, blissfully ignorant of what they're missing out on when, for instance, in the case I mentioned above, Brandeis decreed that they should not be exposed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's views. The students, knowingly or not, are the poorer for the exclusion. 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: What I Would Have Said at Brandeis

* Note: updated for clarity July 2018