Fish on "Tolerance"

[Rick Duncan]

--- Steve Jamar <sjamar at LAW.HOWARD.EDU> wrote:>
> So, those who trash tolerance should come up with a
> better, workable alternative.
>
> Until then, I vote for liberal values of tolerance
> and acceptance of diversity.

What I take from the Fish quotation is that
"tolerance" arguments are often used to mask
intolerance and to attack those who have a different
view of the good. For example, I have written about
the irony that occurs when certain advocates of
tolerance and diversity attack Cardinal O'Connor and
his Catholic beliefs as evil and homophobic. Tolerance
there is "defined in a way that renders the troubling
views [of orthodox Catholics] unworthy to receive it."


So, like Alan Brownstein, I support both the concept
*and the practice* of tolerance. But when I hear many
people talking about taking action in the name of
tolerance, I am on full alert for the club that is
about to be used by the tolerant activists to batter
people who have a different understanding of the good.

Cheers, Rick Duncan










=====
"Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm."
    --President George W. Bush (quoting John Page)

"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow Galahad or Mordred; middle things are gone."  -C.S. Lewis

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