Extremists and Tolerance

I've always firmly believed that extremists "ruined" things for everyone else. The Matthew Shepard discussion in class kept that thought in the front of my mind. The Christian extremists, the anti-gay extremists, the pro-gay extremists, the feminists extremists, the college student stereotype extremists, the atheist extremists... They each destroy the way outsiders view the lifestyles and cultures. These extremists, the ones who base their lives around protesting the opposition make the rest of their lifestyle or culture look bad and negative. It's come to the point where we are all tolerant of each other (yes, I understand there are people who aren't tolerant of differences. Those are extremists, too!) instead of embracing the differences we each have to offer. The world doesn't need anymore tolerance. The world needs acceptance.

I grew up in a rural area with farmers and cowboys. My high school was noted for their FFA and "rednecks." I don't think it's a secret that "rednecks," "country folk," or southern people aren't as accepting to other cultures and lifestyles as they should be. Most of the time, rural areas are very conservative. My high school was also known for their very large, very active FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In my graduating class of 104 people, one was openly gay, one was openly atheist, and one was openly Mormon. I point out these students because they were the top three non-accepted lifestyles by conservative Christians in my area. Tolerance is what we were taught to do, but these students were far from accepted. I was brought up in a Christian home, who prayed when we ate meals, showed up to church together Sunday morning, and opened our Bible for guidance. Despite being brought up in my "tolerant" ways, two of those three students I mentioned were my best friends. My openly gay friend had grown up with me since we were in diapers. When he came out to me our junior year of high school, I wasn't surprised, but I was accepting and loving towards his decisions. My other friend was Mormon. Society has shaped our minds to dislike Mormons because they have "multiple wives" and they're a "cult." Not at all true, and I'll defend her for as long as I live. I bring this up because some family members weren't happy I had acquired these acquaintances. Eventually, my family grew to love my friends and accept them for who they were as people. But it was the extremist people of their lifestyles and cultures who ruined that initial thought for my family in the first place.

What am I getting at and why does this connect with Matthew Shepard? The men who beat up Matthew and left him to die were extremists. They had a hate so deep that they would kill for their beliefs and their thoughts. What happened to coexisting? What happened to acceptance? Why are hate crimes so prevalent in recent years? Where is this hate coming from? And how do we make it stop?