Thoughts on Tolerance

[piasharn]

"Tolerance is a virtue of a man without convictions."

--G. K. Chesterton

I recently came across the above quote on a stranger's livejournal, and was rewarded with an emotion that hung between annoyance and distrurbance.

(And while I've heard of Chesterton, I have never read any of his works, so my opinion of the man himself has nothing to do with my emotional response. However, the info for the user may have been a reason for my disturbed feelings. His website only added to it... and I'm not referring to the poor layout design or lack of grammar, either. At least it reminded me why I consider myself a Liberal.)

Or perhaps I was more disturbed by how the aforementioned LJ user flung the quote about as if it was the Word of God, and gave him permission to be intolerant of others.

Still, I can't help feel that the quote is completely wrong. I know many tolerant people who have very strong convictions. These convictions simply include the concepts of letting everyone live their own lives without shoving your beliefs down their throats. Or remembering that you are no better than anyone else, and are not God, thus you do not have the right to say what is 'good' or 'evil' and tell people how to live.

It's much easier to hate than it is to love or tolerate another person. It's easier to see the world in black and white terms than it is to acknowledge the infinite shades of grey that lie in between. How then is a tolerant person, who realizes this and tries to live by it, a weaker person than a bigot?

Then again, I tend to be wary of people who constantly insist that they are always right. As Albert Einstein once said, "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods." We're just so limited... how can we be sure of anything that lies outside of our immediate senses? And can we even trust those fully?

Still, why is tolerance seen as such a bad thing by some people? None of us like having to live our lives by someone else's beliefs.

If someone could explain humans to me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Comments

[forthrysmian.livejournal.com]

You've got to understand the reality Chesterton was living. His wasn't an environment like ours, with the voices of disparate people are all vying to be heard at once. There was really only one voice he could hear, and it was a really boring one. Thus the tolerance he's referring to is not tolerance of radicals or minority groups being squelched by the status quo; rather, I believe he's condemning tolerance of (ie. complacency with) the status quo itself (which he viewed as stagnant, stultifying, and mired in apathy).

[piasharn.livejournal.com]

Ah... I see; the quote appears to have been taken out of contex. Thanks for the information. As I mentioned, I am familiar with Chesterton in name only.

I think the reason I misinterpreted the quote is because the LJ user I mentioned used it in the sense I was talking about. Someone asked him in his journal why he couldn't just let certain people live their lives in peace, and his only reply was to use that quote.

Still, it's always good to know people who will smack me upside the head when I bungle something ^_^

Re:

[forthrysmian.livejournal.com]

Well, that LJ user is a dummy poo poo pants. HE deserves the smack upside the head.