"This essential element of tolerance--disagreement--has been completely lost in the modern distortion of the concept. Nowadays, if you think someone is wrong, you're called intolerant...''
I think this is very true.
2007-04-23 02:29:08 · 20 answers · asked by talleymark 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I agree, though I suppose it'd be better if I disagreed, hey?
No, seriously, I think that you raise a very important point. Many people here seem to think that there's something morally wrong with pointing out that others' beliefs are false. That is exactly backwards: it's immoral to NOT point out false beliefs. Believers' right not to have their beliefs challenged does not supercede my right to tell the truth in public.
The guy right below me is a perfect example: apparently he thinks that we should not distinguish between truth and falsehood, and that it's somehow discriminatory to do so. Obviously he should instead get better beliefs. There's no moral "political correctness" imperative requiring the rest of us to lie just to comfort overly sensitive Christians.
2007-04-23 02:31:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Some poeple don't understand the concept. I'm extreme when it comes to tolerance: I am willing to open my mind up to both comforting and disturbing things.
It can be very scary, especially when (for example), you put yourself in a killer's shoes. I read some of the comments that Virginia Tech student made. And I understood him. It doesn't mean I'm like him, but people would automatically assume that I am. They don't want to accept that he is a human like them, that they could be capable of the same things in his situation.
That is what tolerance is about: not being willingly ignorant.
2007-04-23 09:37:28 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. I think it's the inability to consider even the possibility of being wrong that is intolerant. Take homosexuality and Christianity, for example, teaching that homosexuality is a sin is (and not necessarily intolerant) fine but teaching that all homosexuals are evil and anti-Christian is intolerant. That subtle difference is lost on most people.
2007-04-23 09:41:27 · answer #3 · answered by St. Tom Cruise 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So?
We should not be aiming our sights so low as simply to 'tolerate' one another anyway. Toleration is always tentative at best. And on the other end of the scale to want everyone to "Love" one another is asking too much. What we should be doing is encouraging others toward "Acceptance". Acceptance of others and that which you do not have the ability to change or that which is not your business. People have the ability to make their own decisions, and if religious people didn't push their beliefs onto others I wouldn't even be here.
2007-04-23 09:40:25 · answer #4 · answered by Atheistic 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes, I think it's true!
Everyone wants to be thought of as "tolerant" because we think it makes us high-minded and more progressive then those who have and state their objections.
But as the old saying goes "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
I go every year on the anniversary of Roe v Wade, to protest abortion. Many people say..."do you really think you're going to make a difference and change anything?" I always answer, that I pray that we do...but even if it doesn't happen in my life time, I stood up for what is right. I didn't just give up and let the world/society lead me wherever they want me to go. I didn't take the easy road.
2007-04-23 09:41:32 · answer #5 · answered by Misty 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Tolerance means accepting and non-judgmental.
The press has made a bad word out of this like so many others.
2007-04-23 09:48:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think so too. As a black man, "tolerance" is an offensive word to me. I neither need nor want anyone to tolerate me if they don't like me for the color of my skin. I will not waste my time trying to get someone to accept me. Your personal belief belongs to you. Mine belongs to me. In society, many people are trying extremely hard to blur the lines between right and wrong. They used to be quite clear. Right is still right and wrong is still wrong. Using the sledgehammer of tolerance to gain acceptance for one's bad behavior won't make that wrong right.
2007-04-23 09:48:17 · answer #7 · answered by singwritelaugh 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I totally agree! It's very true! If you don't agree with someone, or you think they're wrong... or if you just plain don't care you're called intolerant.... but it wouldn't be the first time someone has used a word to make themselves look good and others look bad.... and it won't be the last.
2007-04-23 09:33:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Do you have any examples of someone simply disagreeing with another person and being called "intolerant" for it?
I do hear this often, but I can't actually think of an example right now....
2007-04-23 09:37:56 · answer #9 · answered by Samurai Jack 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
So so right. Tolerance by definition means you disagree with the other view. But you accept(tolerate) their right to believe it.
2007-04-23 09:36:16 · answer #10 · answered by linnea13 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋