On the Toleration of Tolerance
Tolerance, so named, is one of the most popular of the modern political vices. Along with following one's heart, and giving peace a chance, it is one of the most tired of exhortations. Yet few things are more galling than a certain variety of tolerance.
Of course, there is a real virtue of tolerance. It is a branch of justice. It states that people are allowed differences of opinion and one shouldn't use force to change them. Christianity takes pagan tolerance a step further, and commands its followers to love their enemies.
Modern tolerance asks us to do neither. It says something more to the effect of "the things we disagree on are not worth arguing over, so there should be no conflict." Not even sports fans would hold with this. What devotee of the Red Sox would not proclaim from the rooftops that they are emphatically right!!! (they are not in fact, the Angels are best), And that the Yankees are of the devil. And this policy of tolerance tends to be applied to religion. It is offensive because it takes what people hold dear and sacred and holds it to be of less value than the latest economic plan to end world hunger (none of the last million have worked yet, but who knows!).
One can be angered by someone with whom you disagree, but at least the person who thinks you are wrong thinks the question is important. It is hard to tolerate the person who merely tolerates your ideas, and very presence. People aren't meant to be merely tolerated by their fellow man. They are to be loved, and if loved, then their ideas, even their wrong ones, are worth arguing over. We move upon the face of the earth because the earth resists our movements. We cannot move in the tolerant and yielding medium of space.
Of course, there is a real virtue of tolerance. It is a branch of justice. It states that people are allowed differences of opinion and one shouldn't use force to change them. Christianity takes pagan tolerance a step further, and commands its followers to love their enemies.
Modern tolerance asks us to do neither. It says something more to the effect of "the things we disagree on are not worth arguing over, so there should be no conflict." Not even sports fans would hold with this. What devotee of the Red Sox would not proclaim from the rooftops that they are emphatically right!!! (they are not in fact, the Angels are best), And that the Yankees are of the devil. And this policy of tolerance tends to be applied to religion. It is offensive because it takes what people hold dear and sacred and holds it to be of less value than the latest economic plan to end world hunger (none of the last million have worked yet, but who knows!).
One can be angered by someone with whom you disagree, but at least the person who thinks you are wrong thinks the question is important. It is hard to tolerate the person who merely tolerates your ideas, and very presence. People aren't meant to be merely tolerated by their fellow man. They are to be loved, and if loved, then their ideas, even their wrong ones, are worth arguing over. We move upon the face of the earth because the earth resists our movements. We cannot move in the tolerant and yielding medium of space.
posted by The Shark at
12:20 AM
|
2 Comments
