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See "Paradox of tolerance" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

pineapple_rice 6y ago
Reposting from here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25696132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25696132 The paradox of tolerance is one of the weirdest concepts I see being quoted everywhere that absolutely makes no sense to me. It seems so obviously inherently flawed. ________________________________ Who defines intolerance? Historically that's the people in power. In the 50's that was the US government and powerful people like CIA Director J Edgar Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy who used their power to root out leftists, branding them as communists. They said free america could not tolerate the intolerant leftists because socialism and communists were inherently intolerant. The USSR did this by sending people who questioned party agenda straight to the gulags. "By going against party thinking, these people are pushing for an intolerant society that is stratified with the class structures of old. We need to get rid of them before they ruin our perfect tolerant society." The same logic is used to try to stamp out Muslims in countries like India right now and other places in the world historically. "If we leave the intolerant Muslims around, they'll bring forth Jihad and enforce Sharia law on everyone. The Koran is very intolerant about how non-muslims should be treated, we need to force them out because their intolerance is a threat to tolerance everywhere." Literally every Christian country post-Martin Luther in the middle ages used that logic to wage wars on other Christian countries. Not just Christian vs. Christian of course. It's why countries in the past fought against each other over religion so much. When intolerance is defined as views that I don't agree with, it becomes kill or be killed world. One of the best features of the enlightenment thinking is the concept of tolerance. One of the fundamental principles of Western thought. It's literally the reason why non-Christians can live in formerly Christian countries without being persecuted. It's why we accept people thinking about other government types other than an absolute monarchy.
- dang 6y ago
  We've banned this account. Creating accounts for political flamewar is not allowed here, regardless of what politics you're for or against. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

pineapple_rice 6y ago

Reposting from here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25696132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25696132 The paradox of tolerance is one of the weirdest concepts I see being quoted everywhere that absolutely makes no sense to me. It seems so obviously inherently flawed. ________________________________ Who defines intolerance? Historically that's the people in power. In the 50's that was the US government and powerful people like CIA Director J Edgar Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy who used their power to root out leftists, branding them as communists. They said free america could not tolerate the intolerant leftists because socialism and communists were inherently intolerant. The USSR did this by sending people who questioned party agenda straight to the gulags. "By going against party thinking, these people are pushing for an intolerant society that is stratified with the class structures of old. We need to get rid of them before they ruin our perfect tolerant society." The same logic is used to try to stamp out Muslims in countries like India right now and other places in the world historically. "If we leave the intolerant Muslims around, they'll bring forth Jihad and enforce Sharia law on everyone. The Koran is very intolerant about how non-muslims should be treated, we need to force them out because their intolerance is a threat to tolerance everywhere." Literally every Christian country post-Martin Luther in the middle ages used that logic to wage wars on other Christian countries. Not just Christian vs. Christian of course. It's why countries in the past fought against each other over religion so much. When intolerance is defined as views that I don't agree with, it becomes kill or be killed world. One of the best features of the enlightenment thinking is the concept of tolerance. One of the fundamental principles of Western thought. It's literally the reason why non-Christians can live in formerly Christian countries without being persecuted. It's why we accept people thinking about other government types other than an absolute monarchy.

dang 6y ago
We've banned this account. Creating accounts for political flamewar is not allowed here, regardless of what politics you're for or against. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html