Political Interest wrote:It is understandable that they would reject authoritarianism in their own countries, but their utter offense at any country that is not democratic is a type of bigotry.
No, it's the precise opposite. It's being consistent; if you want democracy for yourself, then you should want democracy for others as well.
If our only objection to certain countries is that they are not democratic then that is utterly ridiculous. We clearly have no issues when we are dealing with authoritarian states that happen to be our allies.
Having no issues with authoritarians allied to us is hypocritical, yes. But in your OP, you were complaining that people didn't like authoritarians in general.
There are cases in which an authoritarian solution cannot be avoided. For example, in much of Asia democracy was not possible during the 20th century. It took strict leadership to industrialise many of these countries and ensure that they did not turn into corrupt banana republics. While there were many corrupt and oppressive dictatorships, there were also a number which did not rule with absolute terror and actually did something for the nations they ruled.
Now, this might be seen as 'bigotry', by saying "those people there cannot form a democracy, they need a strongman to tell them what to do". You might excuse it as realpolitik - saying it takes time to develop a system where democracy, the rule of law, justice and so on can be relied on. Exactly what is bigotry, what is realpolitik turning a blind eye to imperfections, and what is hypocrisy, can be debated. But criticism of authoritarians is fine for a democracy; you're just trying to find excuses for not always doing it.