I’ve been writing for years that ideas are not worthy of respect just because people hold them. I often write about this in the context of LGBTQ and gender equality, and while people often agree reflexively with my premise, agreement can fly out the window in actual practice.

This can be more of a problem for self-identified liberals than for conservatives. People who think of themselves as liberal often pride themselves on accepting alternative points of view, even when those views are so toxic they hurt marginalized minorities, and even when those views are logically fallacious and/or based on distortions of fact.

So, it’s terrible when conspiracy theorists and conservatives join forces to spread nonsense that hurts people. But we need to recognize that they do so in an environment more liberal people have nurtured by being perhaps too willing to “respect” nonsense or hurtful ideas in the name of tolerance and diversity.