Some people are harder to love than others. Bigots*, for example, can be pretty annoying, especially when their bigotry is aggressively expressed - in the form of rudeness, arrogance, confident assertion of ignorant claims, arguments that blatantly beg questions, hypocritical double standards, refusal/inability to listen, etc. (Certainly I don't like dealing with bigots: I prefer people who are intellectually interesting and intellectually interested - like my kids, for example.)
But there are also some things to be said in favor of the aggressive bigot: it's good to be passionate about what you believe, and it's good to be prepared to openly state what you believe and to at least attempt to defend it. Why is that? Well, to believe some claim just means to hold that that claim is true. And it is good to be passionate about the truth, to openly state the truth, and to attempt to defend the truth (although of course we should always remember that even claims which we sincerely and passionately believe to be true may turn out to be false).**
Of course, not everyone needs to passionately devote their lives to discovering speculative truths and to becoming extraordinarily knowledgeable (we all have our own 'things' in life with which we are specially occupied), but everyone has to at least live their everyday lives in light of certain beliefs (i.e., suppositions of truth), and, at least from time to time, ask themselves certain basic questions about the nature of the world and their own purpose in it. These are matters of practical, psychological, and moral necessity.
It's true that the passionate, aggressive bigot gets some things seriously wrong: she shouldn't be so arrogant, she should have the courtesy and consistency to also listen, instead of just telling others what she thinks and expecting them to listen to her, she should learn how to make arguments that make sense, etc. But we all have our own peculiar faults, we all act badly sometimes, and it is important to remember (note to self) that the basic tendency underlying the bigot's inept performance is a desire to live and promote the truth, and this underlying tendency is something that is fundamentally healthy and good.
Also, while she may be annoying, that in itself is not even a bad thing. People are often annoyed or offended unjustly, so it is always an open question, when someone is offended or annoyed, who is at fault: offender or offendee (or, of course, both)? That the bigot is not afraid to offend, then, shows her courage and devotion - not to the truth, unfortunately, but at least to what she thinks is the truth. And of course, again, she really should proceed with more circumspection, not forgetting that what she sincerely believes to be true might turn out to be false: For it is no small misstep, some mere peccadillo, to act as if whatever I believe to be true is simply the same as the truth. To act in this way is in fact to show great ignorance of and contempt for the truth.*** But the point remains that the bigot's courage and devotion would be good things - and could become good things -, if only she could learn to correct those faults which are vitiating them.
*My working definition of bigot: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices. One can thus be a bigot who is well-loved, well-mannered, and never annoy anyone. But this kind of bigot I won't talk about here. It may also be worth pointing out that bigots are always people, before they are bigots - 'bigot' should never be thought of as exhaustively describing a real person's character and identity (as in, "all you need to know about Martha is that Martha's a bigot!").
**If one were to deny this by claiming, "actually, the truth doesn't matter," the question would still remain: "is that actually true, that the truth doesn't matter?" At this point someone might still say, "but I just don't care," and you might ask, "why not?" and who knows where it goes from there. In any case, most people are not wont to maintain that the truth just doesn't matter and that they just don't care about it (although they will maintain this often enough in regard to particular truths, even very important ones, provided they don't want the bother of having to honestly consider the case for such a truth and of subsequently possibly having to amend their lives in some way).
***This is true even in the case where what the bigot believes is in fact true. Someone who knows some truth and defends it, but in a bigoted way, abuses the truth: the truth should be treated with respect (sometimes even reverence) and presented to others accordingly. Bigotry is not about what you believe, it's about how you believe. (Of course, sometimes what you believe affects how you believe: for example, some people come to believe that the only way to make 'progress' (however defined) is by violence, so naturally they will come to express their beliefs in violent and irrational ways.)
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