And because I can't get certain news stories out of my head ... (It may be the job.)
And because I think this is worthy of some good debate... (It may be the Presbyterian polity wonk in me.)
I'll pose this question that I'm currently wrestling with. (And yes, I know I ended my sentence with a preposition. Shut up.)
Am I allowed to be intolerant of intolerance? Because I am, but then I feel hypocritical.
Discuss.
2 comments:
Blergh. This is so hard to quantify. I want to say that yes you can be intolerant of intolerance. I guess I look at it this way - my behavior isn't the same as my neighbor's across the street. I let her be her, she lets me be me and we get along. I don't interfere with her, she doesn't interefere with me and we respect each other's beliefs. The minute I tell her that her behavior is wrong or burn her books, I'm breaking the respect barrier. In my opinion, that would allow her to tell me my behavior is wrong and there we go down the rabbit hole. If I'm telling an intolerant person to back off, I'm not saying they are bad people or that their beliefs are bad - just that they need to show respect for other people and their beliefs. My two cents - rambling and poorly written I'm afraid.
I've been turning this over in my head since we first started talking about it, and the intolerant people you speak of need to be reminded of Eleanor Roosevelt's "with freedom comes responsibility." Just because you're free to do something doesn't mean you should.
And for that reason, I don't think it's so hypocritical to be intolerant of intolerance. You are tolerant of differences, not hatred. There's a big difference.
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