I deny that even a hate-filled zealot who wishes to murder me is somehow subhuman or unworthy of dignified treatment. I deny this precisely because I do not wish to advance the ideals of hate-filled zealotry, and they are the ones that claim that The Other isn't a person.

I say "No" to all of you who claim "he's a Nazi, you're free to punch him in the nose just for existing." No. I will not punch him just for existing because I do not want to validate and support the Nazi's ideology.

It is the Nazi who claims some people are animals and unworthy of decent treatment, that they should be beaten or killed without even so much as a trial. It is the Nazi who says I must use violence to settle all disputes, that only the strong will survive.

For the last few years, I kept my mouth shut when everyone around me said "sure, punch a Nazi in the face", because I didn't want to get into the argument. Now I regret that. No, I will not punch a Nazi in the face just for existing.

If he harms someone, I will seek to have him arrested and tried, as that is what we do in a civilized country. If he is simply sitting on a park bench eating his lunch, I will leave him alone.

I utterly deny that we must become the thing we wish to stop in order to fight it; I deny that because to adopt the methods of the people you oppose is to have lost before you even begin your fight.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I'm the sort of old fashioned I prefer. I truly believe in the Western ideals of tolerance and civilization, and I will not abandon them just because people around me claim that somehow things are now "different".

I will not burn down the village to save it, I will not throw away the society I want in the name of preserving it. I want tolerance and peace, and I cannot begin the fight for tolerance and peace by invoking intolerance and violence.

All of you who have abandoned the ideal of our civilization, who no longer join me in saying "I abhor everything you say but I will fight to preserve your right to say it", I also tolerate you and accept your right to your opinion. However...

...I am also not on your side. You have chosen expediency before justice, violence and intolerance before civilization, all in the name of some sort of pragmatism. I deny that your position is even pragmatic.

In the end, the person who abandons their ideals in the name of saving civilization ends without either their ideals or their civilization. I cannot make common cause with this position.

I may be out of step with the bulk of those around me and I do not care. I have examined my position on peace and tolerance, I have found I still agree with it, and I will continue to fight for it, even if it is unpopular, even if I am hated for it.