Intolerance

The idea of tolerance is, at best, a slippery slope, but to be honest, I am not even sure it is a slope.

Any idea seeking to deem any other idea as intolerant is, itself, a situation of intolerance or, a situation of exclusion.

There is absolutely no way to define anything exclusionary as tolerant, even if it is only excluding those who are intolerant.

Several years ago Vanderbilt University created a policy that prevented Christian groups from being granted official club status by the university on the basis of their Christian beliefs, which Vanderbilt deemed as intolerant. So, what makes Vanderbilt tolerant and these Christian groups not?     

I will go ahead and admit that I do not think there is such a "thing" as general tolerance. According to progressive thought, to be a "thing" is to be generally empirical, interactive and experienced. Today's tolerance cannot be a thing because it is not consistent or stable in any of those. Instead, it is an attempt at establishing a standard, a temperature or a fever, if you will, and then judging everyone else accordingly, which disqualifies it from being tolerant. It equates to trying to legislate love. That would be impossible because love is not a universal absolute, and neither is general tolerance.

Today's tolerance is really the concealing, disguising and denying of a certain perception while intentionally elevating all others. It is a separation of a certain subject and a certain object from all others, and an exaggeration of all other features and all other qualities over and in response to that certain subject and certain object.

What does it really mean to be tolerant? How do you teach someone to be tolerant? The answers vary according to who is defining the term. Tolerance is discussed and promoted as if it is a universal truth, but is it? I am not convinced that anyone is truly tolerant in the general sense. To be tolerant is to be inclined to tolerate all the beliefs and behaviors of others. It is to be marked by forbearance.

Do any of us possess these abilities on our own? Are you tolerant of all other beliefs and behaviors? Christians are always being accused of being intolerant, but are Christians any less intolerant than anyone else? Every person taking a breath right now is intolerant in some way.

Do you believe that everyone should be tolerant? Congratulations, you are intolerant. If you believe in something then you do not believe in something else. Vanderbilt believes in something, but that means they do not believe in something else. That is not tolerance.

The idea of tolerance, in retrospect, is a cliff and not a slope. There is no sliding; there is only falling. As soon as you believe in something, you cease to believe in something else. You have jumped of the cliff of tolerance and landed in the land of intolerance. And, there is really nothing wrong with intolerance; everyone lives there. The issue becomes a problem when we take our intolerance and use it to discriminate and oppress others that we deem as "intolerant."

You see, there is really no way to be truly tolerant in a general sense. The semantics suggest that tolerance is a situational state that is to be applied to each situation. Somewhere along the way... the term was hijacked and used in a general sense. Now, everyone hears it as a general term, and thinks it is good to be tolerant in the general sense. There is only one problem... it is impossible.

Today's tolerance goes beyond behavior and into belief. Now, if you are tolerant you not only have to be tolerant in action and deed but belief as well, which means the tolerance we are talking about is no longer tolerance, but a deep indoctrinating enculturation that does not allow competing factions. That is not tolerance. That is blatant intolerance.
 
So, congratulations, you are intolerant, and so is everyone else.