There's No Escape From Tolerance

For some of us it's damned hard to tolerate these intolerant times. Intolerance works. It works like a charm, but only when its believers hold power. And those intolerant souls who wield that power do great damage to the collective psyche of their country, their religions, their schools, and their children. Intolerance disregards the history, culture, and institutions of any country that stands in its way. Sometimes with a gun, sometimes with a dollar. Sometimes with both.

But intolerance takes a lot of energy. Sustaining hatred is hard work. Constantly shouting down anyone who asks an honest question is exhausting. Turning the tables on your opponents by accusing them of the very misdeeds you've committed gets tricky once your command of betrayal begins to sag. Arrogance becomes intolerance's undoing. And today, the arrogance of intolerance is in full bloom following BoyGeorge's election to four more years. But it's beginning to wear thin. When ads appear online claiming that if you support AARP's position on social security you basically hate our troops and "love the gays," psychosis can't be far behind. Once-fervent believers begin to recognize the madness and the method of the message of intolerance. And many start to shy away from the blowhards.

In recent history we've experienced many short-lived periods of intolerance. But under pressure from citizen activists, a few brave souls in government and the press (and once upon a time on television), intolerance always seemed to lose out in the end. Women won the right to vote, can you believe it? Senators became the "victims" of election by popular vote. Prohibition was revoked. Collective bargaining became a reality. The anti-communist witch hunt died with the exposure of Joe McCarthy's small town bully bullshit. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act brought hope to millions. So today, while tolerance may be behind on the judges' scorecards, in my opinion we're just now heading into the championship rounds.

Tolerance is downright vital for any group of individuals to survive. And we know it. Deep down, we all know it. Even those who've co-opted what they believe to be tolerance for their own purposes, whether from the hyper-politically correct left or the "hate the sin, love the sinner" right, learn the meaning of authentic tolerance if they bloody themselves enough from banging their heads against the wall time and time again. That is, unless they lose consciousness.

So take a moment and consider the possibility that intolerance burns itself out under the weight of common sense. Understand that this country still passes on the almost genetic belief in the fundamental rights of the individual. Know that tolerance is not idealism, it's a practical reality constantly in search of a new model for peaceful coexistence. Unless my ears deceive me, the code words of intolerance are beginning to ring hollow. The intolerance in power has overreached, deluded itself through its own insulation, dismissed anyone inside its camp who dared to be thoughtful, and become the laughing stock of the rest of the world. The intolerant are fast running out of friends and making new "enemies" every day. Sure they've created a global mess and left countless tragedies in their wake. But tolerance always grows back from the muck of intolerance. And Spring is right around the corner.
__________

Screen capture, American Spectator home page, before the anti-AARP "ad" was pulled, courtesy of comments posted at There Is No Crisis.