Liberalism is the philosophy of tolerance, right? So tolerant is it that it might let a conservative speak on a college campus without burning down a Starbucks.
The irony of this may be lost on liberals, but a new scientific study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology wont' be:
These findings confirm that conservatives, liberals, the religious and the nonreligious are each prejudiced against those with opposing views. But surprisingly, each group is about equally prejudiced. While liberals might like to think of themselves as more open-minded, they are no more tolerant of people unlike them than their conservative counterparts are.
The fundamental difference between conservative and liberal intolerance, though, seems to be that while conservatives are more likely to quietly reject a liberal's worldview, a liberal is far more apt to riot in the streets of Berkeley if a conservative speaker gets within 15 miles.
Say, that might be an interesting scientific study of the so-called "equally intolerant" philosophies of conservatism and liberalism: Which philosophy's adherents are responsible for more riots started while trying to silence opposing views?