While I don't consider the paradox of tolerance to be invalid, what I see happening is people using Popper as an excuse to be intolerant towards people they dis

While I don't consider the paradox of tolerance to be invalid, what I see happening is people using Popper as an excuse to be intolerant towards people they dislike, declaring that their target party is "intolerant" so they're allowed to be - or even have to be - intolerant towards them. Hence, the total amount of intolerance in the world increases either way. It seems like quite a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.