We explore the changing definitions of tolerance and intolerance, discussing how societal expectations have shifted over time. We delve into the implications of these changes on personal beliefs, moral absolutes, and the functioning of democracy. Arguing for the necessity of being intolerant of certain actions while promoting a more nuanced understanding of tolerance in society.
If you like our content and support our goal of serious discussion without division and name-calling, please join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/IntoTheDesert
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:36 The Evolution of Tolerance
02:00 Intolerance and Its Implications
04:42 Moral Absolutes and Intolerance
08:18 Democracy and the Need for Tolerance
10:36 Historical Perspectives on Tolerance
Takeaways:
Tolerance has evolved from accepting to supporting.
Intolerance can be used as a weapon against dissenting views.
Moral absolutes require a level of intolerance.
Democracy thrives on tolerance of differing opinions.
The founding principles of the U.S. emphasize equality and rights.
Intolerance of harmful actions is necessary and justified.
Identity politics complicates the conversation around tolerance.
Discussions about tolerance should be open and inclusive.
Historical context is crucial in understanding current tolerance debates.
The balance between tolerance and intolerance is essential for societal progress.
Image by pngtree.com
#tolerance #democracy #societalchange #freedomofspeech #division
If you like our content and support our goal of serious discussion without division and name-calling, please join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/IntoTheDesert
Purchase your copy of Preserving Democracy by Elgin L. Hushbeck Jr. today: https://amzn.to/3C3oTGO
Audible Version: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D3NJV2WC/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-397936&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_397936_rh_us
Purchase your copy of Seeking Truth by Elgin L. Hushbeck Jr. today: https://amzn.to/3UCWnSS
Audible Version: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0B399JRWY/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-310976&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_310976_rh_us
Purchase your copy of The United States Constitution A History by Elgin L. Hushbeck Jr. today: https://amzn.to/3AhZ8lE
Audible Version: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0B7CK88YS/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-316815&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_316815_rh_us
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:36 The Evolution of Tolerance
02:00 Intolerance and Its Implications
04:42 Moral Absolutes and Intolerance
08:18 Democracy and the Need for Tolerance
10:36 Historical Perspectives on Tolerance
Takeaways:
Tolerance has evolved from accepting to supporting.
Intolerance can be used as a weapon against dissenting views.
Moral absolutes require a level of intolerance.
Democracy thrives on tolerance of differing opinions.
The founding principles of the U.S. emphasize equality and rights.
Intolerance of harmful actions is necessary and justified.
Identity politics complicates the conversation around tolerance.
Discussions about tolerance should be open and inclusive.
Historical context is crucial in understanding current tolerance debates.
The balance between tolerance and intolerance is essential for societal progress.
Image by pngtree.com
#tolerance #democracy #societalchange #freedomofspeech #division
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00For my entire life, tolerance and intolerance have been major issues.
00:05In fact, one of the worst things you can be called is intolerant.
00:09But over the same period of time, the meaning of tolerance and intolerance has drastically changed.
00:15So what is it we're supposed to be?
00:19Intolerance.
00:20Welcome to Into the Desert, exploring the wilderness of ideas.
00:25Don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button.
00:27And if you want to support our channel and our mission of encouraging discussion, not division, please join us on Patreon.
00:34The link is in the description.
00:36Over my lifetime, the definition of intolerance has actually changed.
00:41At one point, intolerance used to mean putting up with things that you do not like.
00:47So the concept of tolerance automatically implied that you did not like it.
00:53No one has to tolerate the things they like.
00:55No one tolerates having ice cream or a candy or something like that.
01:01If they like it, then tolerance doesn't even apply.
01:05But somewhere over the last several decades, the whole definition of tolerance has changed from one of accepting things that you do not like to supporting it.
01:16So nowadays, if you don't support a same-sex marriage, for example, you're considered intolerant.
01:28It doesn't matter that you're willing to tolerate it, that you're not going to object to the current Supreme Court decisions or things like that.
01:36But it's a matter of you don't celebrate it, therefore you're intolerant.
01:41Yeah, it's kind of like a term used to demonize you because if they call you intolerant, it just means you're not supporting something that they feel you should be supporting.
01:54And then this lack of tolerance is something that they use to hurt you.
01:59It can hurt you.
02:00This last week, I saw an article that the whole issue of same-sex marriage could, not necessarily certain yet, but it could go before the court again.
02:09At the time of the original Supreme Court decision, that was a massive change.
02:13It was not legal up until that point, and then it suddenly became legal.
02:18And there were a number of people who were sort of caught in limbo.
02:22They didn't support, in fact, they opposed same-sex marriage, but they were in a position whose job required them to issue marriage licenses or such.
02:32And one clerk did not want to issue a license because she felt it violated her religious beliefs.
02:40Okay, but the couple involved were not tolerant of her inaction.
02:46Should they sue her, they won, got a massive judgment, and now that case has brought same-sex marriage back up to the court again.
02:56I don't think the court's going to toss out same-sex marriage, but what was once a settled issue that nobody really questioned any longer,
03:06even people who didn't like it tolerated it, the intolerance on the other side has now brought it back up to the Supreme Court again.
03:16And so, again, I don't think the Supreme Court's going to overturn same-sex marriage, but the fact that it's even there is a result of tolerance on lack thereof on both sides.
03:30It's a bigger issue, too, because this whole idea of tolerance is very much one-sided, and it's this set of beliefs that we're all supposed to jump on board with and celebrate and be a part of.
03:44And if you're not a part of that, whether you're for it or whether you're against it, whether you're just neutral and be like, you know, you get to do what you want to do.
03:52I'm going to do what I want to do.
03:54Just don't talk to me about it.
03:56You're considered intolerant, even for something like that.
03:59And the more identity politics comes into this world, the more these kind of off-sided, fringe ideas are being brought into mainstream,
04:14most of us who were like, okay, it's a fringe thing.
04:18I don't want to deal with it.
04:19You go do what you want because you're an adult.
04:21You have the freedom to do what you want.
04:23Just don't talk to me about it.
04:25We're now looked as intolerant, which is kind of the opposite of what they're asking.
04:31It's like a two-faced person who's like, well, do as I say, not as I do, because you have to agree with me or you're intolerant, but you need to be tolerant.
04:41It's very confusing.
04:42Well, the simple fact is we are all intolerant of some things, and some will see this as a major problem.
04:52I don't.
04:54I think the fact that we are intolerant of some things is actually very good.
04:59We should be intolerant of rape, and we should be intolerant of murder, and we should be intolerant of those who are sexual predators on small children.
05:10I'm intolerant to those things, and I'm kind of proud that I'm intolerant to those things.
05:15But there's other things I don't like I'm much more willing to tolerate.
05:19But there are some things I am just intolerant of, and I would remain intolerant of.
05:25So, again, this whole distortion of language that we're not supposed to be intolerant is a little confusing because the same people who argue that you should not be intolerant are sometimes the most intolerant people that I know because they're intolerant of things that are completely legal.
05:49They just will not tolerate if you disagree with them.
05:52Yeah, and you get into this thing of, you know, I personally believe that there are moral absolutes.
05:59And when you talk about things that you need to be intolerant of, it is those moral absolutes.
06:06Tolerance has no place in moral absolutes.
06:10Murder is wrong.
06:11And so, why should I be tolerant of a murderer?
06:15You know, it's not like they're puppets on a string that have no control over who they are.
06:22You know, I mean, unless you believe in predeterminism, and that's a whole other conversation we don't need to go into at this point.
06:31But we all have the will to choose our own paths, and we need to be intolerant of those who choose things that go against what we deem as moral absolutes.
06:46So, again, the murdering of little children is definitely a moral absolute.
06:53Going into a school and doing a mass shooting, to me, is not something I should ever tolerate.
07:01And the fact that it is almost commonplace in our society kind of speaks to a larger issue.
07:08Yeah, well, the thing is, is there are things we should be intolerant of, and there are things that we should be tolerant of.
07:19And then there are things we just don't have to worry about tolerance because we like it.
07:23And where any individual issue may fall, it's a legitimate place for discussion and disagreement.
07:31Some people will consider all killing to be morally long.
07:35Some people will only consider killing innocents to be morally wrong.
07:40And then there's a whole issue of what do you do with war.
07:43So some of these issues get quite complex.
07:46But the bottom line is, if you simplify them to just a tolerant-intolerant, you actually lose a lot of ability to discern and to think.
07:58And quite frankly, our democratic system requires a lot of tolerance.
08:04We have to get along with people we disagree with.
08:08That's the nature of a democratic system.
08:11If everybody agreed on everything, you wouldn't even need government because what purpose would it serve?
08:17The whole purpose of government is to settle those differences.
08:22You can do it with a monarchy of some sort or a dictatorship where one person or a small group of people do it.
08:28Or you can do it with various forms of democracy where people basically discuss, reach a consensus, and the consensus becomes the rules of society.
08:38And that is what an effective democracy is, is where people are talking, people are tolerant of those who disagree, and they're willing to talk out their differences and reach some sort of consensus on what the laws of the country should be.
08:56Yeah, and as long as we're using terms like, you're intolerant as some sort of demonizing slur, we're never going to have those conversations.
09:07I mean, imagine you're sitting at home and you're watching TV with your family, and your daughter says she wants to watch K-pop Demon Hunters, and your son says he wants to watch Venom.
09:18You know, and so now your daughter's calling your son intolerant, and your son's calling your daughter intolerant.
09:24Like, are you ever going to find something to watch on TV if that's the way you handle that conversation?
09:32No, maybe with those choices, you don't want to.
09:34You need to be able to talk through.
09:39Usually I'll come in and say, we're watching none of those, and we're going to watch something I agree with.
09:44Yeah.
09:44But that's why homes are a little bit of a dictatorship, not necessarily a democracy.
09:49Yeah.
09:50And this goes back all the way to the founding.
09:53It goes back to the Declaration of Independence.
09:56You find they wouldn't tolerate the king and some of his actions.
10:02So literally what they called the Intolerable Acts.
10:05And therefore, they broke away in part of the Declaration of Independence.
10:10They actually have a section in there right after the opening of the parish where it discusses when is it okay to break off with the home country, and when is it not.
10:23It's not that you overthrow the government for the little things.
10:26You've got to have enough of a justification to do it.
10:29But the founding principles of the country that they put in, those remain very valid.
10:36Well, Calvin Coolidge said the exact same thing 100 years ago at the 150th anniversary of the deciding of the Declaration of Independence.
10:45He said, and I'm going to quote,
10:46Yeah.
11:13I mean, basically, these are goals that we are to obtain.
11:19And the fact that we haven't obtained them-
11:21Strive for.
11:22Doesn't make them not goals that we need to keep.
11:24Doesn't make them things that we shouldn't continue to strive for.
11:28Just because you don't like where we are now doesn't mean the goal of where we're trying to go is a bad goal.
11:35And so the more you try to change it, actually, you're going backward.
11:41In fact, he went on to say,
11:43If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backwards.
11:54Towards the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people.
12:01Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress.
12:07They are reactionary.
12:09Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient than those of the Revolutionary Fathers.
12:16We can continue to strive for these ideas, knowing that we have not been perfect at attaining them.
12:23Or we can try to seek other ideas.
12:26Coolidge was saying, no, this is the pinnacle.
12:29You can't go further than equality.
12:32You can't go further than government by the people.
12:36And to try and do something else is a step away from what the Founding Fathers were striving for.
12:42They didn't make it.
12:43They didn't.
12:44They sure had the problems.
12:46But they set forth some pretty high goals that we should strive for.
12:50And you see this.
12:51You see this much later.
12:53You see this Martin Luther King gave his speech at the Lincoln Memorial, and he quoted this.
13:00He quoted the Declaration of Independence and the Founding Fathers when he said that the declaration was a promissory note.
13:07It had not yet been paid, but that he argued it should.
13:12And luckily, the country agreed with him.
13:15And we've made tremendous progress.
13:18So let us know what you think.
13:20Is tolerance a word that is useful?
13:24Should we all be striving to be more tolerant?
13:27Or do you agree that there are times to be intolerant?
13:31That it is okay to be intolerant?
13:34Should tolerance be something that is celebrated?
13:37Or is it something that we just put up with?
13:42Let us know what you think in the comments.
13:43We do read your comments and respond to many.
13:46If you've made it this far in the video, please consider watching one of our other videos and supporting our channel on Patreon.
13:53Thank you for watching Into the Desert, exploring the wilderness of ideas.
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