Tolerance and intolerance are two words that are, so to say, ‘in’ nowadays. It is a fad to talk about how tolerant or intolerant the government is or the authorities are. I can’t stay out of anything that calls out for an opinion, even remotely. Every conversation one has is actually made of opinions isn’t it? So here i go about tolerance versus intolerance in our country.
To begin with I think I am going to ignore the entire built up energy around this issue and start with a clean slate. Ignore all the petitions signed, all the awards returned, all the statements made and all the superstars and political parties involved. Lets just come to a human brain level - the level that I call common sense.
What is tolerance? The ability to tolerate - tolerate being the ability to allow the existence of something one disagrees with. Intolerance, naturally, means the inability to allow anything else but your own beliefs to exist. I would like to bring to your notice that these are inherent qualities of every individual. Intolerance exists in every human being. It has always been there. ALWAYS! So basically everybody is tolerant and intolerant. Presently, in our country there are two teams with two different views. Try to step out and look at both these teams without judging or becoming a part of either of them. From this perspective you see two set of people, each being tolerant towards their own team mates and intolerant towards the other team. Now what is new in that? Take any sport to understand this better. In any ethical game of football, cricket, hockey, tennis, badminton, chess etc etc. No player plays to make the other team win. And in this case it is a game of ideals and beliefs. There is no way one team will agree with the other. So obviously there is intolerance!! Intolerance on both the sides. And obviously such intolerance has always been there!!
The only difference is that the team that was silent for quite some time has become very vocal now. And well lets face the truth, their language is not very polite. It is definitely easy to be offended by many statements recently made. But the fact remains that this section of the society always existed. They were silently doing the same things that they are doing right now. It is not a question of the ruling political party at all. It is much deep. Much much deep. It is the question of what our priorities as a society are? How we treat the so called lower sections of our society? How flexible our thought is as a human being? It is a problem that can be solved only at an individual or a family level. It is a problem that can be solved when we question ourselves. Why, we as individuals feel threatened when the other one is not thinking like we do? Why can’t we allow space for another thought? Why can’t all of us try and understand both sides and then choose a path for our own selves? And when the path is chosen, why is it so important for us to go out, make reactionary comments and disturb, more than anything, our own peace of mind?
My conclusion to this debate of tolerance and intolerance is at an individual level. We as individuals need to know what we believe in and how we want to lead our lives. Nobody has a right to take this from us. It is humanly impossible for us to be tolerant towards every thought. So do not react to the other thought, choose your belief and stay in peace. Do not try to force your thought on the other team, because that will never happen. Never!! According to me the only way to finish this ‘in’tolerance talk is to be at peace with oneself and one’s beliefs and keep shut. It is evident that otherwise there is no silencing this noise. Presently it like a fat man and a thin man shouting at each other saying ‘you are fat!’ ‘no! You are thin!’ ‘no!! You are fat!!’. Well fact is a fact is a fact. No matter how many times you say it ‘you are intolerant!’ ‘no! You are intolerant!’ is just beating about the bush. Either you stop it sensibly or you just get tired of it ultimately. What’s the point?
And by the way ‘Go to Pakistan’ as an answer to ‘You are intolerant’ is like saying ‘It’s raining in Chennai’ when asked ‘What’s the time?’ - logically makes no sense. Tolerant or intolerant, one thing is a must - having a logic.
To begin with I think I am going to ignore the entire built up energy around this issue and start with a clean slate. Ignore all the petitions signed, all the awards returned, all the statements made and all the superstars and political parties involved. Lets just come to a human brain level - the level that I call common sense.
What is tolerance? The ability to tolerate - tolerate being the ability to allow the existence of something one disagrees with. Intolerance, naturally, means the inability to allow anything else but your own beliefs to exist. I would like to bring to your notice that these are inherent qualities of every individual. Intolerance exists in every human being. It has always been there. ALWAYS! So basically everybody is tolerant and intolerant. Presently, in our country there are two teams with two different views. Try to step out and look at both these teams without judging or becoming a part of either of them. From this perspective you see two set of people, each being tolerant towards their own team mates and intolerant towards the other team. Now what is new in that? Take any sport to understand this better. In any ethical game of football, cricket, hockey, tennis, badminton, chess etc etc. No player plays to make the other team win. And in this case it is a game of ideals and beliefs. There is no way one team will agree with the other. So obviously there is intolerance!! Intolerance on both the sides. And obviously such intolerance has always been there!!
The only difference is that the team that was silent for quite some time has become very vocal now. And well lets face the truth, their language is not very polite. It is definitely easy to be offended by many statements recently made. But the fact remains that this section of the society always existed. They were silently doing the same things that they are doing right now. It is not a question of the ruling political party at all. It is much deep. Much much deep. It is the question of what our priorities as a society are? How we treat the so called lower sections of our society? How flexible our thought is as a human being? It is a problem that can be solved only at an individual or a family level. It is a problem that can be solved when we question ourselves. Why, we as individuals feel threatened when the other one is not thinking like we do? Why can’t we allow space for another thought? Why can’t all of us try and understand both sides and then choose a path for our own selves? And when the path is chosen, why is it so important for us to go out, make reactionary comments and disturb, more than anything, our own peace of mind?
My conclusion to this debate of tolerance and intolerance is at an individual level. We as individuals need to know what we believe in and how we want to lead our lives. Nobody has a right to take this from us. It is humanly impossible for us to be tolerant towards every thought. So do not react to the other thought, choose your belief and stay in peace. Do not try to force your thought on the other team, because that will never happen. Never!! According to me the only way to finish this ‘in’tolerance talk is to be at peace with oneself and one’s beliefs and keep shut. It is evident that otherwise there is no silencing this noise. Presently it like a fat man and a thin man shouting at each other saying ‘you are fat!’ ‘no! You are thin!’ ‘no!! You are fat!!’. Well fact is a fact is a fact. No matter how many times you say it ‘you are intolerant!’ ‘no! You are intolerant!’ is just beating about the bush. Either you stop it sensibly or you just get tired of it ultimately. What’s the point?
And by the way ‘Go to Pakistan’ as an answer to ‘You are intolerant’ is like saying ‘It’s raining in Chennai’ when asked ‘What’s the time?’ - logically makes no sense. Tolerant or intolerant, one thing is a must - having a logic.
