There are a few things worse than being called intolerant, inflexible, or closed-minded.

Who wants to be that? Isn't it far better to be open to everything, dismissive of nothing?

Well, not necessarily. Let's frame this a different way.

Should we have any standards at all, or should the standards simply be, anything goes?

These are new questions. For most of American history, standards of acceptable behavior

were generally agreed upon. Today, we can't even agree on the difference between men and women.

Those on the progressive left seemed dead set on unsettling just about every settled question.

All in the name of being open-minded. But can your mind be so open that your brains fall out?

Do we need to tolerate every crackpot view under the sun, no matter how harmful, no matter how false?

Do we need, for example, to keep an open mind on murder? Of course not. That question settled,

and every citizen has an obligation to follow the law. Even if someone doesn't want to,

even if he identifies as a serial killer. How about a more controversial example?

Consider the case of Drag Queen's story-hour, an activist organization that sends transvestite men

wearing sexualized clothing into elementary schools and public libraries to read books and sometimes

even dance in front of little kids. In the name of tolerance, must we allow men to strap on

stilettos and wiggle around in front of toddlers, even when our communities object, even when we know

that it's wrong? This example is a little bit tougher for the tolerance crowd. Not because the

answer is obvious, it is, but because any way you answer, someone's views are not going to be tolerated.

If we answer, yes, we do need to tolerate Drag Queen's story-hour, then we are refusing to tolerate

the wishes of parents and taxpayers who don't want their public property used in drag shows for kids.

If we answer no, we're refusing to tolerate the wishes and behavior of the transvestites who want

to perform in public schools. There is no world in which the answer to this question accommodates and

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