Exposure to difference, talking about difference, and applauding difference — the hallmarks of liberal democracy — are the surest ways to aggravate those who are innately intolerant, and to guarantee the increased expression of their predispositions in manifestly intolerant attitudes and behaviors. Paradoxically, then, it would seem that we can best limit intolerance of difference by parading, talking about, and applauding our sameness.
Karen Stenner, The Authoritarian Dynamic, cited by Thomas Edsall in The End of the Left and the Right as We Knew Them
Or, as Peter Beinart says,
it means celebrating America’s diversity less, and its unity more.
(via stoweboyd)
This is exactly what makes me uncomfortable with both the right (which goes without saying) and the illiberal left, that has a lot of representation on this site.
tinfoilparachute 