Intolerance
Erik

 

The European Union. Politically correct speech. Mixed race marriage. Religious variety and acceptance. Some would say the western world is in a Golden Age - in terms of tolerance. Look at us - mosques in London! Chinese restaurants! Kosher food and Halal meat! How wonderfully open-minded, unbigoted, culturally embracing we have become! Now, as never before, the world is a melting pot, and brothers and sisters join hands, united by their single common trait: humanity.
  It does, truly, sound like a Utopian paradise - if of course we sweep things like the Klu Klux Klan under the rug. But in this brave new world of love and acceptance, what would we expect? Cultural diversity in all countries, for one. What do we get? National minorities, persecuted for their religion, views, the colour of their skin....a newspaper recently reported the story of a woman who went to find a flat for her in-laws. The flat was owned by a parson, a man of God. He was kind to her and interested; he suggested that the in-laws come to dinner and view the accommodation. The in-laws arrived. And were refused accommodation in the nicest possible way. They were black.
  This example occurred in Britain, supposedly a modern, tolerant country which seeks to help and support and accept people of all cultures. In the streets every day, do we hear cries of
  �Please, help these Asian people find work� or
  �Really, it�s terrible, you know there is only one Jewish family in my community�? We don�t; instead, from the everyday ordinary Joe Public, we get remarks such as:
  �Send �em back where they came from�
  �Stealing our jobs when there aren�t enough for us�
  �Why should the Government let them in when it can�t look after its own people?�
  And all this in the days when it is not acceptable to say someone is short - I beg your pardon, �vertically challenged�. For most citizens of any country there is an unspoken (or crudely verbose, depending) policy of �them� and �us�. We are �us� and everyone else who isn�t exactly like us in faith, culture and appearance is �them�. But surely the Government, our chosen leaders, are completely tolerant in terms of other cultures? The people speaking above are right in one way - the Government does offer aid to other cultures in difficulty - doesn�t it?
  In 1990, many millions of refugees applied for political asylum. Only 17% were refused; 60% were allowed to stay and 23% were allocated asylum. In 1996, as our �tolerance� apparently increased, what with politically correct obsessions drifting in from American and our increased intake of curry - those figures were, respectively, 6%, 14% and 80%. Sounds good, doesn�t it? Until we realise that these figures are in the wrong order - in fact, 80% of refugees were refused, 6% given asylum and 14% allowed to remain in the country. So much for improvement. So much for the authorities setting an example!
  Perhaps the Government cannot afford to house desperate refugees whose very lives, and those of their children, are threatened. It can, apparently, afford to look after its unthreatened relatively affluent, secure native population. But, say the optimists, look how far we�ve comer, globally! So we�ve made mistake in the past - the Holocaust, the persecution of Native Americans, Vietnam - but look at us now! We�re on the verge of having regulation, combined European currency! The �Euro�! Isn�t� it a wonderful symbol?
  Indeed, it is a symbol - a symbol that there is yet a long way to go: a symbol of a surface which many people are too afraid - or indifferent - to penetrate. What the argument neglects is that the example it offers can hardly be called �the past�. The Holocaust was a mere fifty years ago, Vietnam even more recent, and the prejudice and ill-treatment of Native Americans goes on today. What of the tragic but noble tale of the dignified elderly American Indian who left the Reservation to dance as a warrior before rows of laughing, materialistic, well-fed businessmen at their endless unproductive lunches - receiving bundles of cast-off clothes and a little cash, which he needs to send young Navajos to college? How many people have heard it and said �So?�? How many have heard it and said, �Oh, what a shame�? How many have heard it and done something, even if only feeling outraged at such forced indignity on a noble old gentleman?
  We, the secure, we, the �dominant� race - we know nothing of intolerance - what it is to be cast out, put down, treated as inferior. It would do every white male Protestant good to take a look at his life and compare it to that of others - to count his blessings before he complains; namely, that he is a white, male Protestant and has nothing to fear from intolerance! But this is an awful generalisation - not all white Protestant males are prejudiced, of course, and prejudice is certainly not restricted to a particular gender, gene pool or religion. To imply that this is the case would be terribly intolerant. But how many people noticed this?
  It is vital to remember that there is a flip side to every coin, and that not only minorities are persecuted. Indeed, groups within groups, wheels within wheels, cycles of intolerance, can be found in abundance directed towards, or within, any social group. There are several categories of people who are at risk of experiencing intolerance; the following lists just a few:
Black people
White people
Jewish people
German people
Christian people
Hindu people
Fat people
Thin people
American people
French people
Uneducated people
Intellectual people
And the list goes on. Does anyone see a pattern emerging?
  Before we attempt to pass judgement on other people�s intolerances, we should take a look at our own. How many modern-minded, progressive, tolerant people in the 1950s used the word �Nigger�? Probably many; and they were not all being deliberately bigoted, they were following a social trend. Today, use of the term Negro would be insulting and inappropriate - back then it was refreshingly polite! As time moves on and out value systems slowly evolves, people begin to recognise their prejudices and those of others. How many of us have argued incessantly with an ageing relative who hates the Germans because of the war, the French because of the war, the Austrians because of the war....and how many of them are responding in a similar way to the current French �trade-war�? Prejudice, intolerance, is not disappearing - it is merely taking on new forms, diluted, secretive forms, which appear on the surface to be acceptable; a kick under the table. It is not words, phrases, terms which need to be altered. There is no insult in calling a black man �black�, and most black people would never imagine that there was. It is beliefs which need to be changed - ingrained, rooted, learned and accepted but unacceptable beliefs.
  It is a fair point that everyone is entitled to their opinion as long as they aren�t actually hurting anyone. But intolerance - the biggest opinion of all - does hurt someone: the children. The racist, sexist, bigoted beliefs are being instilled into the young by their parents, generation after generation. We can, perhaps, forgive the elderly some of their bitterness towards a nation they still view as butchers and Nazis, for it is a displacement of the anger and hatred felt towards the true target, Hitler and his minions, towards whom it cannot be adequately expressed. But for a child of twelve to hate Germans because of the war is ridiculous!
  We all, more or less, remember our parents�� well-meaning and perhaps accidental indoctrinations, built into us as surely as not taking sweets from strangers. It is those of us who can move beyond these opinions and think for ourselves who can filter out the intolerance and keep only the good sound moral education or childhood provides, who truly know our own minds and can rightly express such opinions as out own, should we decide to maintain them. Indoctrinal intolerance is unfortunate, a mistake which may never be corrected. It is a severe problem. But perhaps not so severe as natural intolerance - if such a thing exists. The key to breaking down such prejudice is reality, a dimensions which few are willing to face. It is all too easy to blame on a scapegoat minority the problems of a struggling country, or the world, just as it is to blame our parents for all our mistakes.
  Perhaps, in a far-off glittering future, making will have found complete tolerance, ad thus, spiritual peace. We are, after all, all the same when we are dust. Such a vision, while appealing, is sadly unlikely, however - humanity always needs someone else to stand on to elevate themselves. In the end, we are all God�s children, or Allah�s, or Vishnu�s, Odin�s, Zeus�, Jove�s. We share the same sun, the same world, breathe the same air. There is no room for intolerance in a heart which knows and embraces this premise - for such a person knows truth, and love, and inevitably, peace.

 

 

Copyright © 1999 Erik
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"