Dare To Be Intolerant!

When I was a child the Five and Dime Store held great treasures like Chinese Handcuffs.  These little woven tubes were a marvel to the uninitiated.  When they were compressed, they allowed the pointer finger of each hand to be inserted in each end.  When the hands were pulled apart the tube tightened on each finger and prevented them from slipping out of the tube.  You could pull all you wanted but you could not free yourself from the tube.

In recent years, the conservatives in our culture have discovered a Liberal Handcuff that works under the same principle.  Whenever a liberal argues that their conservative counterpart is being intolerant, the conservative counters with their own appeal to the liberal’s intolerance of their intolerance.  This is seen most clearly in the Christmas Crèche wars that have played out on courthouse lawns across the country.

When the ACLU takes up the fight to preserve the separation of church and state, the conservatives cry out that they are being intolerant of the Christian’s right to free speech and the free exercise of their religion.  They demand tolerance for their right to use public resources to promote their private, religious opinions.

Using the argument of tolerance would effectively silence the liberal response.  Tolerance is, in itself, a simple matter of acknowledging and accommodating differences.  It is blind to moral justification and obligations.  It either “is” or “isn’t.”  Thus, the liberal must either accept being viewed as intolerant in order to argue for removing the crèche or yield to the conservative and become caught in the Liberal Handcuffs of tolerance.

However, tolerance is not a value, it is a response that may or may not be warranted in any given moment.  No one expects us to be tolerant of socially recognized bad behavior.  The bully is not tolerated.  The abuser is not tolerated.  We are intolerant toward those who cause harm to others.  In fact, when we tolerate criminal behavior we become accessories to the crime.

We are expected to tolerate good behavior, even if it is inconvenient or hurtful to others.  We are expected to tolerate a doctor who causes a child to cry when he gives him a vaccination.  We tolerate the limiting of individual rights during a time of war.  So, tolerance is not a good, in and of itself.  It is only a good when it serves a greater good.  It is not a value, it is a behavior.

Therefore, when we tolerate behavior that is more hurtful than helpful, we are, at best, accessories to evil.  To tolerate the bigot we stand against those who are being denied their human rights.  When we tolerate those who would impose their religious teachings with the implied power of government behind them, we are tearing down the wall that separates us from being governed by the church.  Tolerance in the service of intolerance cannot serve the common good.

The next time you hear that the left is just as intolerant as the right, we can agree.  However, we need to take the argument to the next step.  Judge us not by the level of our intolerance, but rather by the object of our intolerance.  Let us be known for those things that we will not tolerate like poverty, discrimination, militarism, and corporate greed.  Then allow the right to be known for the things that they are willing to tolerate.  Things like poverty, discrimination, militarism, and corporate greed.

As a liberal I am more than willing to be called intolerant as long as my intolerance serves the greater good of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Bob Dees