The Limits of Tolerance
2005/04/25
Dr. Babu
Suseelan
Kierkegaard, the existential philosopher, once wrote
the story of an absent-minded man so abstracted from his own life that he
hardly knows he exists until, one fine morning, he wakes up to find
himself dead. This story has a special relevance today; we could wake up
one-morning dead, without ever knowing the menacingly urgent problems of
Jihadi terrorism, suicide bombing, and subversive activities of the
radical Islamic fundamentalists. The very fabric of our value system,
freedom, democracy, cultural tradition and pluralism that sustained
civilized societies are unraveling quickly, dangerously and perhaps
irrevocably. The decayed conditions are accumulating freely in the social
systems of democratic societies. Terrorist bombing, beheading, kidnapping,
hijacking, and criminal activities of radical Islamic groups permeate
every aspects social life. There is public skepticism and cynicism that
the leftist intellectuals and liberal academicians have become addicted to
the artful charade of pseudo secularism, irrational tolerance and moral
agnosticism. Politicians on the left and liberals talk about secularism,
tolerance, coexistence, minority rights, and world vision; but do not ask
or see the dangers peace loving people face. Current events provide
abundant evidence that they are well aware of the scale and magnitude of
evil forces that threaten their existence, and they simply choose to evade
them.
The extraordinary preoccupation with tolerance
encourages political leaders to peddle self-deception and self-delusion as
realistic. The Islamite media, leftist intellectuals and alienated
academicians seek refuge in pseudo secularism and irrational tolerance and
use institutionalized tolerance as a recipe for moral uncertainty. They
peddle tolerance, pseudo secularism and minority rights as labels for
political racket, and parade it as a sign of philosophical depth. They use
their political power for presenting fraudulent Islamic preachers and
jihadi terrorists as a healthy sign of a tolerant, culturally pluralistic
society. The concept of tolerance is used to brainwash innocent people to
believe that they exist to serve fanatic Muslims.
The propaganda system promoted by Arab Muslim
dictators subordinate or degrade freedom and democracy and is promoting
obnoxious ideas. As a result, innocent people adapt to the psychosocial,
political environments imposed on them by corrupt political leaders. This
kind of unhealthy adaptation often distorts reality and makes it difficult
for people to assess dangerous situations. People undergo unhealthy
behavioral changes in response to their grossly altered psychosocial
environments. There is also an erosion of the public’s social conscience
within a macroeconomic society. People become estranged from their life
sustaining culture and react cynically. This brings in distorted concepts
and unsuitable ideologies that destroy old certainties. It bewilders and
makes people anxious and confused. In such a state, rational thoughts and
actions are replaced by meaningless slogans. People bring distorted
concepts, which obscure basic questions of culture, values and purpose.
They substitute meaningless, abstract, harmful ideas like
tolerance, minority rights, world vision, etc for democracy and justice.
The ethos and values that connect people together undergo a grotesque
distortion. The tolerant peace loving people ultimately loses their
purpose, focus and unity.
The tardy irrational tolerance and denial cloud the
real menace threatening freedom and democracy. Irrational tolerance has
resulted in the blunting assertive reactions and creative responses to
imminent dangers. The Jihadi terrorism that threatens the survival of the
nations is ignored or tolerated. People are mired in silence and
complacency. Some runaway from the painful reality and substitute
unrestrained tolerance as a virtue. Irrational tolerance act as psychic
blinders that make the whole aspects of life threatening problem utterly
invisible to them. People act like clowns pretending to be happy,
tolerant, secular and content as a way of surviving. They hide their true
selves, needs and aspirations behind masks. Eventually they become the
masks they put on and lose connections with cultural values and social
needs. In this strange setting, people lose touch with hard realities,
distort the problem they face and turn away from responsibilities. When
genuine, tolerant individual organizes to confront the deception,
appeasement and power grab of Jihadis, and they are oppressed with
malicious propaganda.
The unrestrained tolerance encourages degeneration
and apathy because tolerance in itself does not logically represent a
positive virtue. Clear thinking and renewal are possible only when
political leaders understand the limits of tolerance. They need to break
the wall of denial and irrational tolerance. The first step toward freedom
is to free from the closed mindset and not to tolerate intolerance without
hesitation or apology. Freedom loving people should not simply choose to
evade serious problems in the name of tolerance. Coexistnce, equality and
justice are possible only when the majority devotes itself just to
challenge the statusquo, disrupting the perils of tolerance and pseudo
secularisim. The revival, if it occurs will not come by peddling
irrational tolerance, moral neutrality or denial. It will happen when the
majority questions the conflict between what they are told and what they
see and experience. Unrestrained tolerance is running away from history,
running away from truth. Irrational tolerance blinds the issues and
encourages degeneration, thought disorder, immorality and social decay. It
incapacitates one’s ability to assert his /her individuality in
situations of adversity. Civilized people are tolerant but tolerance as a
virtue is not a priority for Muslims. We should not tolerate what is
intolerable and what is evil, but should dedicate ourselves to the values
of liberty and justice. Peace, prosperity, justice and civilization
itself, can be achieved only by the refusal to tolerate evil. One should
tolerate different religious beliefs. But if such religious beliefs
encourage smashing skyscrapers, killing innocent people, and forcefully
convert poor people, we should not tolerate such dangerous belief system.
To ensure our future, we should realize the perils of
tolerance. In the name of tolerance, we should not allow Jihadi
terrorists, communist fascists and Muslim fundamentalists to impose their
intolerant ideology on our throat. It’s time to start rethinking things
from the ground up. It’s time to realize the limits of tolerance and
move away from moral paralysis. When
we think of the attitude shift necessary to regain our strength, we should
remember the message of Voltaire” We must cultivate the spirit of
tolerance in our hearts, but we should not allow the policy of toleration
to be exploited and abused by fanatical sectarian groups which are
subversive political movements in ecclesiastical disguise”.
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