Intolerance In America

         This is a piece I wrote in my former blog. With all the anger, hate and outright vitriol in our society these days, I thought it would be good to re-post it here.

America... the land of brotherly love. We even have a city nicknamed “The City of Brotherly Love”. Brotherly love allows us to be tolerant of those we may disagree with. Such a precious human commodity, yes? Yet, if you were to question people on the street, it's doubtful if many could describe brotherly love for you. But those same people could probably tell you in great detail how pissed of they get at such-and-such group of people for whatever reason. Of course, there has always been intolerance, but America hasn't always been an intolerant country. That's a more recent development. And it can't really be blamed on either side of the political spectrum... Left or Right. We have to lay the blame where the blame is due... US.

You know, in the past several years, there has been a big patriotic movement taking place in which it has become popular to voice the importance of the American citizenry by quoting the opening phrase of the Declaration of Independence... We the People. Well, We the People need to accept the responsibility for intolerance. We choose to be intolerant, whether we realize it, or not. We don't have to hate a group of people for the life they live. We don't have to treat them unkindly. Those are choices we make as individuals... and we need to do better. You may feel that you've been wronged, and perhaps you were, but if you seek to exact revenge on those you hold responsible how are you any better than they? You see, intolerance is a cyclical thing; so, too, is tolerance. The more you treat others in a tolerant manner, the more they will be tolerant of you. Yeah, yeah... I know. You're such a great person, how could anyone not be intolerant of you.

A while back, a story was relayed to me about a blogger who wrote a piece about a particularly bad shopping experience she'd had. The proprietor of a locally owned shop the writer chose to patronize one day was playing Christian/Gospel music over the store's sound system. Apparently, my fellow blogger took umbrage with the music and took to the internet to tell the whole world of her anger. It would have been a simple matter to turn around and walk back out the door and down the street to another shop. As easy as that, the matter's over, at least for sensible and tolerant people. The writer, however, chose to practice neither sensibility nor tolerance. She wrote about how the store owner was inappropriate for playing that music in a public setting because not everyone shared the owners religious beliefs and would not care to hear the music while they shopped. (They, too, could find another place to shop if they were so offended.) But the proprietor of the shop was absolutely appropriate for playing his/her choice of music in his/her shop. Small business owners spend the largest part of their day at their place of business. They need to maintain a frame of mind that helps them calmly deal with their customers, who can often be less than agreeable to deal with. They, of course, should listen to what makes them feel good. Not only that, but the type of music played by the business owner will help pull in the type of clientele the businessperson prefers. Most likely, the writer will not frequent that store and the shop's owner probably won't miss their business.

Also, since when does name calling and antagonism become an appropriate method of human interaction? I can't speak for everyone else, but I and my siblings were taught that these were inappropriate and impolite. I might add that it's also very childish. A friend of mine once took to social media with something to say about this:

[Okay. If you label people that don't agree with you names like racist and sexist. It shows a lack of tolerance of opposing opinion. It shows that you lack intellectual thought. You have surrendered your intellectual thought to a biased media, an academia with a political agenda and corrupted and manipulative politicians. As you sheepishly follow a narrative of destroying your opponent. You are actually destroying America because America is a nation based on the free flow of ideas. Where opposing opinions are supposed to be discussed. But if you assassinate the character of the person you are destroying their ability to express their opinion. And most important of all. We are not defined by our political views or who we vote for. We are defined by the love we have in our hearts for our fellow man. Colan Niles]

Imagine the discussion that sparked. People were replying back and forth to each other long into the night. Contrary to what Progressive theology would have you believe that's good. That's how people are supposed to behave. When this country was founded, do you think the founding fathers all agreed on everything? Absolutely not! They argued back and forth until they came to a suitable compromise that was good for everyone. That compromise and the resulting agreement became the foundation for the greatest country ever known to man. If we can't exchange ideas in today's society, how can we possibly survive?

The late Richard W. Wetherill once expounded: “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Mr. Wetherill understood that forcing someone to go against their own will would only make them bitter and resentful. How can we hope to get cooperation from others like that? Surely, you've got to know that all things end. If we browbeat our opponents into submission now, what do you think they'll do when our turn ends and it's their turn again? We cannot hope to build a strong society like this. We must stop the madness... and the only way to do that is with tolerance... and love.