“Tolerance” is dead

That which was once the pride of our freedom is now a symbol of its decadence.

My interest in this topic is not random. It partially stems from the attitudes of some people in my circle that I partition myself in dealing with them. I must suppress all my political and moral concerns and limit myself to issues about “how I am doing.” This goes way beyond intolerant. It denies the better and dominant part of who I am.

My inclination was to start this column with a lifted definition of tolerance. Google will tell you that there are more definitions than can be reconciled. Plus there are philosophical and psychological discussants that parse the topic into whatever you want it to say. I’ll try to distill the abstract into the pragmatic.

Growing up through grade and high school the ideal of tolerance was presented as quintessentially American. After all, it was the Puritans who settled New England fleeing from persecution under the British crown. But once here, I later learned, they proved to be less tolerant of other believers, and they were all united in their intolerance of the indigenous tribes living in America. As a youngster I never connected the condescending attitude toward “Negroes” with intolerance, after all we in the North had freed them, we were taught. Once in college, I became aware that Blacks were still relegated in the South to a position little better than slavery, and in the North they had little access to the economic and political entitlements of full citizenship.

This was about the time of the Korean War (or “police action” as legalists termed it). And once again one of our core principles was under attack: “My country, right or wrong.” It would have been equally true to say, “My country, purple or fuscia.” It was a rhetorical trick to get dissidents to tolerate that which was morally “wrong.”

Once you link tolerance to patriotism, you have a poisonous brew. It is a more socially acceptable version of the Koolaid a cultist might drink enroute to despicable acts. The war in Vietnam nearly dealt a death blow to jingoistic patriotism. The politicos who like to play war games suddenly found a not so compliant public. Their way of weeding out the unreliable was to eliminate the compulsory military draft. An all volunteer army gave the gamers all they needed to work within the tolerance levels of most Americans.

As I write this piece a white supremecist kid in upstate New York travelled 200 miles to gun down and murder 10 Black people in a supermarket in Buffalo NY. Would you say tolerance was his problem? And 19 school children murdered in Texas. Tolerance?

Tolerance has been used to get us accept intolerable behavior in service of a higher ideal. Whether it involves guns, drugs, sex, nationalism - it is all of one cloth. Break down a society’s moral bounds as a prelude to installing new values that may support alien cultures.

Tolerance of violence is greater in the US than in any other country. For every mile BLM marches, even more will die. The next January 6 event will be more violent. The tonnage of American explosives dropped on the recalcitrant will likewise increase. To become America again, we must abandon violence at all levels.

Liberal politicians push for thorough background checks. That won’t stop gun violence. Let’s go all out, like the anti-abortionists did. Repeal the Second Amendment. Pass tough gun restrictions in Blue States. It a long haul, and we’ll have to tolerate a lot of violence to reach that goal.