POLITICS: Tolerance and T-shirts

Tolerance isn't about abiding by a single set of social anything. It's about letting people choose their own set, and not harrassing or harming them for doing so. You don't have to like it, you just have to stay out of their way and let them exercise their freedoms, as long as that doesn't harm nonconsenting bystanders. America actually does a pretty good job of tolerance compared with a lot of other countries where people routinely kill each other over political or other differences. We're not in the forefront anymore, though; I'd like to get that back.

Tolerance isn't about abiding by a single set of social anything. It's about letting people choose their own set, and not harrassing or harming them for doing so. You don't have to like it, you just have to stay out of their way and let them exercise their freedoms, as long as that doesn't harm nonconsenting bystanders. America actually does a pretty good job of tolerance compared with a lot of other countries where people routinely kill each other over political or other differences. We're not in the forefront anymore, though; I'd like to get that back.

I think you're right. If you say that you support freedom of speech and freedom of choice and tolerance, then you pick on people who express ideas you disagree with, that's hypocritical. It makes people wonder what else you're lying about, and it undermines your effectiveness. (The same is true of pro-lifers who sneak their pregnant teens out for an abortion.) I don't think it's a matter of absolutes as much as a trend, however -- one or two nasty liberals could be dismissed as statistical variation. (No group will ever be perfectly homogenous.) What disturbs me is the consistency of response: a large number of apparent liberals behaved in a conspicuously intolerant manner, and nobody spoke out against it. I may not like the conservative platform, but that doesn't incline me to take away other people's right to choose it. The democratic process must swing free or it is a sham.

Vividly. That was the first nail in the coffin for my interest in WisCon. The next time I went, I specifically checked the tolerance atmosphere, compared it to previous levels, and noted the precipitous drop. It's gone up and down a bit over the years, but has yet to approach my first couple experiences of WisCon as a businessy-but-freewheeling convention. I really don't like spending time with stuffy people, and my partner doesn't find that con very appealing. So I'm much less inclined to go back, even though it remains my most effective networking con.