ExtraNewsFeed - Yonatan Zunger - Tolerance is not a moral precept

The title of this essay should disturb you. We have been brought up to believe that tolerating other people is one of the things you do if you're a nice person -- whether we learned this in kindergarten or from Biblical maxims like "love your neighbor as yourself" and "do unto others."

But if you have ever tried to live your life this way, you will have seen it fail: "Why won't you tolerate my intolerance?" This comes in all sorts of forms: accepting a person's actively antisocial behavior because it's just part of being an accepting group of friends; being told that prejudice against Nazis is the same as prejudice against Black people; watching people try to give "equal time" to a religious (or irreligious) group whose guiding principle is that everyone must join them or else.

Every one of these examples should raise your suspicions that something isn't right; that tolerance be damned, one of these things is not like the other. But if you were raised with an intense version of "tolerance is a moral requirement," then you may feel that this is a thought you should fight off.

It isn't.

Tolerance is not a moral absolute; it is a peace treaty. .....