Should We Tolerate Intolerance?
It’s said that man is basically good, i.e., that most people are kind, helpful, productive, and sane individuals, perfectly capable of living harmoniously in society. Those who hold this belief, however, are forced to adopt some theory that explains things like the rise of entire regimes of fascism, hate, intolerance, and persecution of different races and religions. To simplify this, take the world as it exists today. Yes, we have Nazis wishing to exterminate Jews, white supremacists wishing to lynch blacks, Boko Haram kidnapping young girls, and ISIS beheading Christians and committing horrific acts of terror in countries around the globe. Now, estimate the total number of adherents there are to these abhorrent ideals, as compared to the total world population. Let’s overshoot and say that it’s 1%, which would be 73 million people. If that’s true, for every one of these terrible people, there are 99 others simply trying to live in peace.
Then ask yourself, to pick a hate group at random, how is it possible that Nazis are “a thing” again here in the U.S., when their ideology is so broadly opposed? Obviously, one could suggest that they are emboldened by the actions of the U.S. president, and sadly, there’s little doubt of that. But we need something larger and more comprehensive than just the behavior of a single man.
Here’s my theory: good people, by definition, don’t fight dirty. We don’t really want to fight at all. Yes, Nazis exterminate Jews. I don’t even exterminate spiders; I capture them and release them outside. Don’t get me wrong, I think any decent person would happily blow someone’s head off if we saw someone trying to drive a car into a crowd of innocent people, but it would require an opportunity as rare as that to force us to kill.
This whole discussion of tolerating intolerance is presented very nicely in the graphic here, in which Karl Popper, generally regarded as the 20th Century’s greatest philosopher of science, comes back to life and carries on a conversation on this very point. Enjoy.
Craig,
The problem with your philosophy and Karl Popper’s is while you are appalled by the intolerance of of Nazis, you excuse intolerance by Leftist groups.
By your own definition your failure to speak out against such behaviour, places you ( I’m sure unintentionally) guilty of the same transgression as you find reprehensible in the President.
The best safeguard of public tolerance,(and your own freedom from oppression) is a tolerance of all opinion and free speech.
Clearly, tolerance doesn’t extend to violent conduct, unlawful discrimination or other illegal behaviour contributing to public disorder.
The problem isn’t being ‘intolerant against intolerance’, it’s who gets to decide what should and shouldn’t be tolerated. That becomes the slippery slope.
American “Nazis are clearly pathetic fools. The dynamics which created 1920’s and 30’s Germany,no longer exist. The Nazi’s were only one of a number of much, much older groups of racists, anti-Semites etc.
Although these creatures of the ultra-right may seem repulsive, I would suggest that they are less harmful and more understandable than ultra left, anarchists etc.
Why ?
In my estimation because their agenda is basically created by fear and insecurity. These folk are misfits, incapable of sufficient cohesion, organization or agenda to acquire sufficient support within a modern state. Basically, like most bullies the feel aggrieved and inadequate.
The ultra left, anarchists etc, are more dangerous because although they also lack the support to become anything more than a fringe element in a modern state, their motivations are more complex and difficult to understand. These self convinced revolutionaries, possess a far less understandable ideology.
These leftist extremists are far more intelligent, motivated by far less discernible hatreds, and capable of deeper penetration into the body politic.
But that’s just my opinion. Maybe I’m an old fashioned student of history, but I believe we should have learned the lessons from the disasters of the Versailles treaty, the Morganthau Plan etc, and observed the success of the inspired Marshall Plan.
The problem is when we set out, with righteous intent to be as nasty as our enemy, we always end up a bit nastier.
We should be inspired by the teachings of Martin Luther King Jnr, and St Francis, not girding up for righteous oppression.
In the words of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, when they wrote they lyrics to “One Tin Soldier”
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
Justify it in the end
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
I love that song, btw.
I’m not advocating violence; I’m advocating what happened in Boston the other day: broad solidarity among peace-loving people, and ridicule of hate groups. We don’t come after Nazis with clubs, we come after them with tubas.
That coupled with law enforcement. As soon as the neo-Nazis see a few of their fellows hauled off to prison on assault convictions, this whole thing will go away quickly. You can have all the Steve Bannons ever put on Earth calling for the white race to “take the country back again,” but in the face of unbiased policing and the arrest of violent criminals, this will be gone soon.
Getting Trump out of office will help too. If we can have a government that truly serves the needs of all the people, the impetus for hate crime is greatly reduced.
Craig,
But you still can’t bring yourself to condemn the violent left can you?
We ? Who is we ? Do you really imagine the way to a more peaceful society is preventing others from excising their constitutional rights ?
Do you really think if you shout people down loud enough, you will convince them of the justice of your cause ? Don’t you realize a silenced and embittered minority will simply resort to violence and terrorism from frustration at not being allowed to be heard?It really doesn’t matter how you drown them out, just the act itself is a form of violence.
If you endorse throwing rocks and bottles of urine at those excising their right to free speech,(or Police) is respecting the US Constitution, then you’ve just joined the ranks of fascists and fanatics.
I intensely loath the antics of the un-Christian, un-American and unwanted Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS. But the Constitution guarantees them the right to free speech, however hate filled and hurtful.
In defending their right to free speech, I’m defending my own. That’s the real point. Driving the horrible people underground only increases their attraction for misfits, malcontents and mentally unstable. Silencing their hurtful but harmless ranting, turns into bitter violent acts of terror.
Believing in the right to free speech isn’t conditional upon you agreeing with the speaker, the real test is when you defend the right to free speech and assembly for those whom you detest !
Martin Luther King jnr’s methods were so effective because he didn’t silence his enemies. In fact he encouraged them to speak. He understood,(especially with the advent of TV), the more his enemies spoke out, the more ashamed the nation grew and more importantly, his enemies grew ashamed of their own rants.
He converted enemies to friends, by allowing the fear and insecurity to dissolve.