Tolerance? Tolerance is unacceptable . . . as an ethic . . .
To the editor of Teaching Tolerance
Dear Editor,
I believe you (meaning this organization) have chosen the wrong word to fly your flag on. In short, I believe that tolerance is unacceptable. Rest assured that this is not the ranting of the religious right, or the wailing of a white supremacist. This is a protest to the use of tolerance as an ethic.
Tolerance is an acceptable variation from a standard, however looked at philosophically,"That which is not right is wrong." If we set our standard by the right, how can tolerance be anything but wrong.
Over and over again in the media, and from groups such as Teaching Tolerance, we hear tolerance, the acceptance of wrong, praised and expounded as an admirable ethic. anyone who lets their logos fraternize with their ethos will tell you that this is ridiculous. To Teach Tolerance is to teach that there is an acceptable wrong, and that it should not only be embraced, but that embracing it is a goal unto itself.
Suppose that we did embrace toleration as an ethic. To do this would be to accept the belief that embracing acceptable deviation from a standard,(tolerance), is in and of itself a moral standard (ethic).
This means that tolerance as ethic makes accepting deviation from a standard a standard, which is as we all know, an oxymoron.
Q.E.D. Proof by contradiction.
This was not written to recruit idealists, but rather to encourage realists to embrace logically sound principles.While the logical reader has been forced to abandon tolerance as an ethic, it is important for them to note that tolerance is both necessary and proper in many situations, however it is no substitute for the right.
If you want to combat issues of racism, gay hate, classism, or sexism, why not use a real ethic, respect.
"And now you know . . . the rest of the story" PH
BTW "the rest of the story" was an objective portion of PH’s program.
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