[salawat]

>Bigotry in a sense that the rights (to defend, self-determine, etc) we so vehemently ascribe to/for ourselves as given are in the same sentence with dumb righteousness denied to the other party/country/ethnic. What is going on?

Many, many, people have issues with self-referential inconsistency. It takes discipline, and importantly, resolve to not just accept the legitimacy of someone doing something you don't like, but to support their continued being able to do it on the basis of it being predicated on the same foundational values you claim your agency stems from. This is the whole part of where "bravery" comes into the picture with the actual act of exercising liberty and self-determination.

>How is it that we defend this blatant anti-pole of what we claim are our values as a collective?

Talk is cheap. Walk is expensive, messy, and full of unpleasant consequences. People have gotten out of the habit of actually standing up for capital L, Liberty. When liberty is a mere guideline, this is the kind of slide/speaking-out-of-the-side-of-one's-mouth/equivocation we end up sliding toward. Institutions getting co-opted by people with their own agendas in mind.