Tolerance

There is a person that I work with that seems to like Hitler.... he does not seem too fond of Jews.... Hates Israel..... doesn't love Hmong people , and seems to have many negative opinions based on race . ....... and it confuses me to say that in general I like him....
I feel like I should go into detail about why.... I wouldn't want anyone to assume that I agree with his opinions.... he certainly knows that I do not..... but why isn't important ...
The thing I am stuck on, is that for the majority of my life, I would have been appalled by his vocalized thoughts and avoided him, shutting down communication with him completely.....and that would have been a mistake. I have gained a lot from his friendship.
When I started working in a factory, I was amazed by the culture I found myself in.... and not in a good way..... There were people who quoted the Bible and openly spoke about how disgusting homosexuals were... people had pick-up trucks with confederate flags....there were women who wanted Harry Potter banned. I felt lost, and annoyed.
But .... as I spent time with them, they- became -a name- and an individual, and even if I sharply disagreed with their views ...to the point that I wanted to scream and yell and change their minds ...... I found some part of them that I was fond of............ I was able to see some of the ways I was monstrously intolerant and misguided myself.
I love idea of tolerance, I thought of myself as a tolerant person............................but somewhere I became incredibly rigid about what was an acceptable opinion and what was not. Even though I was kind when thinking about different generations...and time periods....I held people to impossible standards if (in my opinion) they should have known better because they had access to Sesame Street.
Am I older and wiser.... or have I given up the fight?

People could think I am Horrible because
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I don't want to neuter my dog.
I eat meat.
I think that "under God" should be removed from the pledge.
I think prostitution should be legal.
I love the word Cunt .... and have a raunchy evil sense of humor.
I believe in, and would vote for the legalization of gay marriage.
I still call things gay when I am joking around....
I say black instead of African American
I am fat
I am short
I am female
I like porn
I download mp3s and ignore copyright law on occasion
I like the prequels
I buy a lot of things and am a materialist

.........
you get the idea...

?????
this is getting too preachy... I am on some imaginary soap box. I guess I could add self absorbed to the list.

I need to calm myself down and be more open to people...

I have made the mistake of piling negative qualities on to my assessment of a persons worth that are not deserved because I don't care for one thing that they stand for.
example:
A homophobe can be prompt and articulate. I shouldn't deny that, or I am fictionalizing them to the point that I am creating a demon, and just dismissing them.... limiting my understanding of the people around me.
Ultimately I could box myself in if I close all doors and opportunities.