Commentary: Don’t Tolerate People Who Hate You

by Tim Young

When is the last time you went to an independent coffee shop? Not a coffee shop run by a church or a charity that does positive things for a community – I mean, a grungy, hipster coffee shop run by Gen Z-ers who dress like they rolled out of a bed in the late ’70s and who believe their knowledge of roasting beans has greater value than rocket science.

These types of places hold a special place in my heart – not because I love to sit on old couches that would illuminate like the brightest moon on the darkest night if put under a black light – but because they remind me of who we’re up against in the ongoing culture war.

You can’t go anywhere without seeing evidence of this rapid change – whether it be television, radio, films, print, or your child’s classroom – you don’t just see it; you’re slapped in the face with it. Pronouns, fat acceptance, gender dysphoria, critical race theory and much more haven’t been casually shoehorned into our world. They’ve been dropped like an anvil into it – and if you don’t agree with these new radical ideologies, you’re considered the problem. But by who?

For most people who have real jobs or families to provide for, it’s easy to lose touch of exactly who you’re up against – which can lead to you thinking it’s much worse than what it actually is.

Over the past weekend, I visited the vegan hipster coffee shop Mecca of the world, Austin, Texas. Approaching my favorite circus of all the coffee shops in the town, it was impossible not to notice the same virtue signaling found in most leftist Twitter profiles, but in physical form: a Ukrainian flag, a Black Lives Matter sign, a Beto rainbow sign (for double points), and a few trans flag stickers (that I wouldn’t have been able to identify had it not been for trolls on social media) adorned the outside of the building.

Upon entering the mental facility at 10:30 a.m., I heard one of the baristas complaining about Senator Ted Cruz’s tweets. He was dressed in a dirty retro shirt that was covered in holes and he had a handlebar mustache that was straight out of 1982 – or maybe 1882, come to think of it. After ordering my $5 coffee, he turned the iPad screen around to present me with tip choices that ranged from 20-30 percent – for what I would assume is a good job pouring my coffee and handing me a cup.

Taking a seat in the shop whose walls are adorned with years of moldy independent band stickers, you can’t help but immediately observe the clientele – poor hair colorings of the entire rainbow, lots of that nose piercing of a sort only cattle should have, an “I’m-rebelling-against-my-parents” wardrobe provided by Hot Topic, and dozens of what could be best described as prison tattoos entered the building – and of course they were all there midday which implied that they had nowhere like a job to be.

If you met the people I just described in person, and they told you how you should live your life, you’d laugh in their faces. You’d take one look at them and write them off more quickly than you just read my description of them. In a simple glance, you’d identify that they don’t deserve even a second of your respect. These are the people who are pushing the extreme cultural shifts onto society.

The purple-haired woman who wants her pronouns to be ze/zir and who believes in only using natural deodorant – the one who also pierced her nose to look like a bull, who has what looks like a poor attempt at drawing a 3-D box on her arm she did while high and who wears small ripped up shirts, but should be in 2XL – is among the vanguard of people who want you to change your life to make “zir” feel more comfortable.

You don’t see them because you’re busy working a 9-to-5 job to provide for your family in a recession – and so your exposure is limited to the new restrictions they caused by rambling all day long about being offended on social media platforms – and the insane changes to the culture that this has caused by trickling down into all forms of media. But if you did see them, if you met them, you wouldn’t even be remotely intimidated.

These are the people who wanted you banned from society for not getting the same medical treatment they believe in; the same people who want toddlers to be taught sex in schools; the same people who want to ostracize you for your faith in God; and the same people who scream that you’re a hateful -phobe or an -ist for having opinions that differ from their own.

You’d laugh at them in person. You’d quickly move them out of your path if they stood in your way. You’d shut down their nonsense because they’re nonsense people.

So why play along with their rules now? It’s important to keep in perspective the pure clownery that are the people attempting to change societal norms. They don’t deserve your respect or your tolerance – they never did.

And if you ever lose that perspective or feel intimidated by what you’re seeing from the Left, just take a trip to your local independent coffee shop and reclaim your confidence in knowing that you are on the correct side of history.

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Tim Young is the media and culture critic for American Greatness.
Photo “Man Being Bullied” by Keira Burton.

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