tolerating intolerance

[miriam_e]

With the muslim riots around the world reacting to this silly C-grade movie the internet is again all a-chatter about it. One of the most interesting things I saw was a comment on YouTube where someone saw tolerance as a mathematical equation. He wrote it as the result of multiplication like this:

-1 * +1 = -1 (being intolerant of tolerance)
+1 * -1 = -1 (tolerating intolerance)
+1 * +1 = +1 (tolerating people who tolerate you)
-1 * -1 = +1 (being intolerant of intolerance)

However I fear it might be more like addition:

-1 + +1 = 0 (being intolerant of tolerance)
+1 + -1 = 0 (tolerating intolerance)
+1 + +1 = +2 (tolerating tolerance)
-1 + -1 = -2 (being intolerant of intolerance)

Many people are suggesting that we should not tolerate intolerance, but this is scary if it works out to have an additive effect. I read one online report that suggests that this may be true, unfortunately. Now, I wasn't in Sydney to see the violence there, so I can't say for sure, but this report was saying that there was no violence from the muslim protesters until the police hemmed them in and started clobbering them and spraying them with pepper-spray.

Was the violence overseas incited? Or were those protesters stupid enough to go on a rampage on their own?

I think we should be adopting an attitude of ridicule towards muslim extremists, such as those who carry signs like the widely reported one in Sydney recommending infidels be beheaded. I can't help feeling that nothing will convince these morons they are right quicker than to be physically attacked. Embarrassment has an altogether different effect.

I also think there is a pretty good case for condemming the koran as hate-speech and making it an offense to allow it anywhere near children and schools. It should be read by more people who defend islam as a religion of peace -- it is a truly vile book filled with exhortations to kill people of other religions and those who lose their religion. The bible should also be kept away from schools and children for the same reason, even though it is only 15 on a scale of 10 for repellent attitudes; the koran is like 20 on a scale of 10. It is horrible.

I was struck by a depressing thought this morning. I spend most of my time learning. It is what I love most of all. I don't have any narrow specialty (which is annoying) but have a fairly random approach. I'm almost 60 years old and I've been like this all my life. What scares me is that I am struck by how little I know and how much I still need to learn in order to get some kind of handle on the world -- how it operates and how I can best make my way in it. Now here is the terrifying part: the planet seems to have large numbers of people who apparently have little or no desire for knowledge. They will defend to the death some stupid myth -- and I'm not just talking about muslims here. There are plenty of christians and hindus, probably even buddhists (Pop Pot was buddhist -- wrong. See my note below), and fanatical adherents of various political and economic myths who refuse to adjust to a changing world. It becomes very dangerous when people utterly refuse to learn but insist in forcing their static, blinkered and frankly wrong views upon others.

If they could tolerate people with differently closed minds, and people who have different sexuality, or dress-sense, or skin color, then things would be better, but probably still dangerous, because being unable to learn and adapt when we are currently crashing ecosystems worldwide is a recipe for disaster.

NOTE: Thank you slave_driver for correcting me here. I can't find any evidence that Pol Pot was buddhist, and am unable to remember where I read that he was. Pol Pot victimised buddhist monks along with other religious people and all those with any technological or scholarly background.