Too Much Tolerance


I read somewhere that it’s almost as if Amsterdam is stuck with the label of being tolerant. Even to things like drugs and prostitution. The article wondered whether Amsterdam was now stuck having to be tolerant to pretty much everything. Otherwise they risked being asked: so drugs are OK but you draw the line at graffiti? Really?

I think Hinduism is stuck in the same situation. It declared that all religions were the same (or equivalent): so now it gets stuck when asked how Jainism and Islam can possibly be considered the same.

Like Hobbes says in the strip above, there is such a thing as too much tolerance. A point beyond which an evil figure will twist tolerance to condone pretty much everything. A point beyond which tolerance is sickening. And wrong. But you can realize that only if you still have the capacity to think and haven’t yet been blinded by faith at the altar of, well, Tolerance.

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