We live in a day and time where a person must be excrutiatingly careful of what the say and how they act. One mistaken word or act can bring down a torrent of criticism the likes of which have never been seen before. "You should go to tolerance camp" is becoming a more prevalant phrase.
How tolerant is "tolerance"? Does the fact that I don't like illegal immigrants make me intolerant? Does it make me a bad person? Does the fact that I believe homosexuals should have a ceremony different from marriage to consecrate their union make me an intolerably bad person? Just because my beliefs differ from yours, does that make it necessary for you to tell me I need to go to tolerance camp?
You cannot give tolerance to some people and deny it to others. If you are going to be tolerant of all ideas, then you must also be tolerant of the people whose ideas differ from yours. You may believe in opening our borders to every living, breathing creature on the planet whether they be innocuous or terrorist. I don't. Does that make me any worse of a person than you? HArdly. I just view things differently.
That is what gets me about these tolerance toting people out there. They will be tolerant as long as your beliefs follow theirs. And if your beliefs don't? Well, then you're simply a narrow minded pig who needs to learn tolerance.
But there are some things, and some people, who should not be tolerated.
Illegal immigrants - I have nothing against LEGAL immigrants, because they follow the laws. They rightfully belong in this country. They pay taxes for the services they recieve. Illegals don't. And when they get hurt and are sent to the hospital, who is paying for their treatment? MY tax dollars are. Not theirs because they don't pay taxes. As for the arguement, "No one else will do the jobs they do." We currently have an unemployment rate of something like 6%? That's a whole lot of people who would like a job right now.
Racism - Okay, yes, racism is still alive in this country. It's also alive in every other country around the world. But when you have this many people, or so many diverse backgrounds in one area, you're bound to have conflict. But then again, I think people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson hype up racism to the point where it seems like where back in the pre-Civil War era. Seriously, get real. If you even look at a minority group member wrong, you're immediately labeled as a racist. But then, should you call a white person "white trash" or get involved in reverse racism, no one really cares. The easiest group to attack in America where you don't have to fear repercussions? White men. Who knew?
Homosexuals - Okay, love is love one way or another. Some people condemn it, some people love it, some people just don't care one way or another. I feel that marriage is solely between a man and a woman. Punto. If homosexuals want to come up with some other kind of sacred ceremony for themselves, go ahead. I'm not going to be one to stop you. I think that's one of the biggest problems today. People are expecting too much change too fast for too diverse of a population. One thing at a time ladies and gents. The ending of slavery and the sufferage of woman wasn't gained over night. And it is still not what it should be. Everything takes time, but demanding everything all at once isn't going to make things any better or easier.
Tolerance is a two way street. You either have to tolerant of all people, or you are not completely tolerant.
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Tolerance is key, but the reason that people aren't thought of as being politically correct when they say some of the stuff you mentioned is because that's how so people were kept down for so long. e.g. Homosexuals have always been vilified (sp?) throughout history and when a person says that "homosexuality is wrong" it conjures all that old crap associated with it, homos being scapegoats for AIDS and outcasts of society for so long.
White men get such a bed rep because they were the ones being insensitive for so long. I am NOT saying that it's justified in any way.
Did any of that make any sense? I feel like typing a book but I don't think I'm being very clear.
You are actually being very clear, and I agree with what you're saying.
But the same thing goes. Progress takes time, and asking for so many things at once is just going to make peole who are already unsure balk even more. It's like trying to get a horse to overcome its fear of something by shoving the scary thing right in its face. You're just going to freak the horse out more.
As for white men being insensitive, sure it's true. And you're right, it's not justified in any way. But Africans had been selling, and are still selling, their own people into slavery. So, shouldn't they be considered just as insensitive? Regardless of the fact that they're the same color? Germans and Jews are both white, yet the Germans were condemned for slaughtering Jews.
Either way, you were clear and it made sense. And vilified was spelt correctly.
Yeah but I personally think you're being waaay too logical about everything. All you say is common sense, yes, but people are thinking with their emotions and nothing else, (and I'm guilty of that too sometimes)
Things are gradually getting better, but there's still a ways to go. We shouldn't forget history, of course but we need to move on--and there are those select people out there that can't let go and keep dredging up hate. We'll get there. I may be naive, but I think we're getting closer to not being fucking stupid to everyone because of religion, race, and sexual preference. (not to mention gender, age, blablabla) : )