Video: Protesters Say They Must Defend Freedom Of Speech By Blocking Koch Brothers Newspaper Purchase

The folks at Reason went down to an anti-Koch brothers protest at the LA Times headquarters and interviewed some of the protesters there about why they’re, well, protesting.

It’s humorous to watch. One protester says she’s opposing the Koch brothers because America needs to be more “open minded.” No, really. She wants to block the sale of a private media company to people because she opposes their political view point, and she apparently thinks she’s doing this in the spirit of “open mindedness.”

The left often has some very strange notions about freedom and tolerance. I’m reminded of the annual “War on Christmas” which sees religious holiday displays driven from the public square in the name of “tolerance” and “diversity.” Yet, banning those displays because they may make some in the public unhappy is not tolerance any more than protesting the sale of the LA Times to the Koch brothers is open minded.

In both cases, what we’re seeing is intolerance. An unwillingness to accept that freedom sometimes means tolerating views you may not agree with.

I had a dinner conversation recently with a reporter friend of mine, and we concluded that conservatives might actually be better suited to being tolerant of opposing views and ideas because of the nature of the media. Journalism populated overwhelmingly by liberals. Movies and television and the entertainment industry in general is, again, overwhelmingly liberal.

In order for a conservative to enjoy just about any information or entertainment medium, they have to accept that most of the people operating in that medium are probably opposed to them politically. Conservatives accept this. Liberals, used to being the majority in these areas, do not.