The Tolerance Paradox

Tolerate the intolerant?


When asked whether or not one is tolerant most would like to think they are, or at the very least portray that they are. When we were young we were taught that the U.S. is a "Melting Pot" and Canada was a "Salad Bowl" or something (the individual pieces of salad do not lose their flavour). A melting pot is where one is supposed to become like others, basically, and a salad bowl society dictates that you do not have to assimilate to the existing culture but rather keep one's culture from their place of origin. I have heard the term "Cultural Mosaic" as well but that seems like a forced made-up name thought up by some organization who sit around all day coming up with these types of terms so I will stick with "Salad Bowl".


But what happens when the culture that the person is from, is intolerant of other cultures? To illustrate this I will write a fictional story of a planet far away, that bears no resemblance to anything here on Earth.


Somewhere in a different galaxy there is a star called something resembling, in their language, The Sun. And around that star is a planet where anything goes. Aliens from all over the parsec (I have to be honest, I don't know what that is) flock to this planet to trade, cavort, drink and imbibe all sorts of illicit drugs (although on this planet they are not illicit, they might mess you up but they are not illicit).


It is also a cultural centre where artists, philosophers and free-thinkers congregate to share and learn without fear of reprisal or discrimination. Something your neighbour does may shock you but as long as it does not interfere with your disgusting habits it is ok.


One day a rocket ship arrives. It looks like a large cucumber only not green and more square with little bits hanging off. And off of this mighty craft flock an alien race who are looking for a place to call home. This planet, they agree, is lush, fertile and were it not for the locals, perfect! They decide that they will make a go of it and set up shop on a permanent basis.


They don't really care for drugs (in fact they deem them illicit), they don't like your art, and they most certainly don't like your disgusting habits. You see, they come from a culture that does not tolerate much of anything. My way or the highway kind of mentality (wherein highway means death). And as their population grows they gain more influence politically and they start to push for some action.


One day an innocent alien child (picture it) stumbles upon a pool party where all sorts of crazy shit is going on, involving powders, liquids and body parts fitting oddly with other body parts (don't picture it). This child happens to have a phone that takes pictures and takes a few snaps. In these photos the locals appear to be enjoying themselves but when the new alien culture gets wind of it and sees these photos, such a clamor is raised that the whole planet has to pay attention. Those powders and liquids are evil and those body parts have no business fitting with those body parts and all sorts of other comments about going to hell and whatnot.


The locals are somewhat confused by this. Firstly having no idea what Hell is (most thought it seemed like a grand place to visit) and secondly they feel that the only reason this new culture is here is because of their society tolerating alien cultures. Now this alien culture has arrived and is preaching that the local way of life is wrong and should be stopped. This is somewhat hypocritical, the locals chime in, you are only here on our lush, fertile planet because of tolerance yet here you stand preaching intolerance. Did you not come to this planet to enjoy our lovely open culture? No the reply came, we are only here because of the lushness and fertile-ness.


Now as I sit here reading/writing this I think to myself, that it seems pretty obvious. If I chose to move to this planet it would seem pretty selfish of me to only move there to take advantage of their resources and then comment negatively on their way of life and try to change it. I would only move to a planet whose belief system mirrored my own for the most part or could see myself adopting and I would embrace that culture.


Cultures (which are heavily influenced by religion) can only reside amicably within a tolerant society if their basic tenants do not include discrimination, sexism, racism and bigotry and therein lies the rub. Many cultures (maybe most) include some or all of the above. So to what level do we tolerate that intolerance?

Running Downhill - Our economy faces off against the environment and wins (and we lose).

A lot has been said about the environment, global warming and our impact on the planet. Governments and corporations attempting to step up to the plate to assuage our fears. We humans have a tremendous ability to think and rationalize anything and omit unpleasant things like facts. We create religions to give self-importance without backing it up with anything substantive, and similar to that we bluster about how we have to make changes because we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and future generations without considering abstract notions like logic and reason. A lot of the proposals sound noble and beautiful, but if you think them through you will realize that it is part of a very big lie. It is important to note that I am not referring to the damage we are doing to our planet (which is not in dispute), but rather the belief that we are doing something about it. Our current society is incapable of 'going green' and our governments must know this. In a nutshell, our world economy is running downhill and cannot be stopped without crippling today's way of life.

An illustration of this is the automobile. Physically we have the ability to build a car that lasts for much longer than we see today. However, economically we do not have the ability to build a car that lasts, because we need you to buy a new one sooner than that. The automobile industry is a cornerstone of our economy, we saw what happens when people stop purchasing cars. It is a downward cycle that quickly spins out of control.

The same can be said of many facets of the modern world. 'Fast Fashion' encourages you to buy the latest trends at the cheapest prices every season regardless of the environmental impact (which is huge). Apple, Android and Windows, among others are at some point chronologically in an unending arms race. We need the latest version x.0 now. Where does yesterday's fail version go? We all know but we choose not to think about it.

There is a very hypocritical dichotomy going on at this very moment. On one hand we preach the 3 R's, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, not to be confused with the other 3 R's we are failing at (but subject to a different article), meanwhile on the other hand our culture tells us to buy everything new. With almost every electronic device and appliance, textile and tool being far cheaper to replace then it is to fix or maintain. The shoes you are currently wearing are most likely not even fixable. A cobbler is a dessert now, not a profession. TV repairmen do not exist and it is entirely believable that with the advent of the electric car auto-repair will become marginalized as well, reduced to replacing tires and brakepads but once the engine fails, it will be more economical to swap it out for a new one.

You may or may not have heard of OLED. They are the latest development in TV's and will be out sometime in the 4th quarter most likely (corporate speak for late in the year I guess). The O stands for organic and it refers to the light-emitting diode (LED) which will be made of organic compounds allowing it to be much thinner and bendable. How organic compounds allow for thinner and bendier I am not sure, just know that it does. This is fantastic, very cool stuff. Foldable, rollable screens that are lighter and potentially more efficient are things I see in movies and the little boy in me is ecstatic. The concerned, green thinking environmentalist in me (he has a small voice and like the rest of us is rarely heard) is thinking what about all the plasma's, LED's and LCD's out there now? Where do they go? And will I be able to see one on the reality show 'Pawn Ninjas' in 2085? Probably not. Did we not just get rid of the old type televisions? To tell you the truth I am kind of bored of the OLED's now, I am holding out for the next thing after that, I am sure it will be even better.

At the turn of the last century you could buy a cast-iron apple peeler that would last you 100 years. I do not know what shows like 'Pawn Wars' or 'Antique Ninjas' will be about in the 22nd century because nothing we build today will function at that time. If I had to bet I would say 19th century apple peelers. The term 'Fast Fashion' should be used for all products not just clothes. As the hill gets steeper we are starting to run even faster. We should be slowing down but it does not appear that we are. Is there a solution? Yes, logically there has to be, but it might need to be catastrophic for us to notice.