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Ask Soylent - How to Treat Intolerance in a Tolerant Society?

posted by n1 on Sunday April 13 2014, @06:12PM   
from the anyone-who-disagrees-will-be-shot dept.

Fluffeh writes:

It has been a little while now that this fledgling community has been around and it remains one of my favorite stories about communities. A splinter of a much larger community took it upon themselves to challenge the rest and make a move to a new home. Shedding the shackles that were being placed on them was a bold move, but one that has been fantastic.

The community here is great, but here is my question. Overall, we are amazingly tolerant of others, of the choices they make, and of their beliefs. I would then be curious, if we are such a tolerant group, how do we address intolerance in our ranks? I recently came across what I can only say filled me with pity and sadness. I find it saddening that in this day and age, and especially in this group, there are still such hate-filled people.

But this poses a question: how does a group that is tolerant deal with intolerance within it's ranks? Does our acceptance of others extend to accepting someone that has thoughts and beliefs which are far from the norm within this community, or is there a limit placed on how far from our own values a member of the community may be?

• Re:word play Re:word play (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 13 2014, @09:36PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 13 2014, @09:36PM (#30991)

  Well, you're close anyway. It isn't about opposing views, it's about opposing a destructive view.

  No. Demanding tolerance from others is hypocritical because at that moment it becomes intolerance. This is exactly the same as imposing morality on others being immoral and is something we've understood for centuries.

  You see, you do understand the concept of using the right words in the right context to paint the correct picture. You just can't apply it to the word tolerance, and it's causing you physical pain.

  • Conflict 1: Friend A attacks friend B, you remain neutral.
  • Conflict 2: Friend A attacks you, you defend yourself.

  It does not follow that conflict 2 has any bearing on your neutrality in regard to conflict 1. Now let's revisit the comment I initially replied to.

  Tolerating intolerance is not tolerance

  assert ((true == (false == false)) != true)

  This is entirely different than your neutrality example. It is an outright fallacy and deserved exposing as such.

  Parent

• Re:word play Re:word play (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2014, @03:31AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2014, @03:31AM (#31123)

  Strange that to make your point you applied context to the word 'neutral', but not the word 'tolerance'. Is that an oversight or was that intentional?

  Parent

  • Re:word play Re:word play (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2014, @08:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2014, @08:58AM (#31218)

    You can't claim tolerance whilst being intolerant of anothers views and asking for them to be banned from the site. That is the context, is it not?

    Parent

    • Re:word play (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2014, @03:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 14 2014, @03:26PM (#31337)

      Warmer, but you're still not giving it the love you gave the other example.

      Parent