Tolerance

[Murthy Yenamandra]

Hartwin Gebhardt writes:
> Not at all. That's why I said "(more or less)". The nonsense happening in
> New York is a clear example. It's not particularly difficult seeing the
> difference between some well-fed first world artist challenging the
> establishment, or the cosy ideas of other well-fed first worlders, and the
> IMF coming down like a ton of bricks on a small African community. To demand
> 'unambiguity' here is usually an excuse to talk and do nothing.

I can sympathise with the annoyance felt when you see all the attention
devoted to the NY brouhaha - power, alas, includes the power to command
and monopolize attention. But we don't have to ignore a particular
conflict because there is an even greater power differential in another
conflict.  (For instance, is the case of the relatively well-fed first
worlder Tyron Slothrop screwing around with Them in Europe unimportant
because of all the vastly more distressing happenings around the world?)
Besides, well-fed first worlders are probably the most readily equipped
(if not necessarily so inclined) to challenge the establishment of the
first world, so I say more power to them/us if they/we want to. But that
doesn't have to distract us from doing whatever else we can.

> I am trying to say that tolerance is one of the terms the West uses and has
> used in "brutally asserting its power and terrorizing the weaker",
> [...]

The West does that any way, whether or not it calls it tolerance or
White Man's Burden or Manifest Destiny or whatever, so why blame it on
the buzzwords they use? I'm just not ready to discard the concept of
tolerance because it's used as an empty buzzword.

> I suspect that we
> could easily come to an agreement re. different conceptions, or definitions,
> of 'tolerance', though. 

I don't doubt that we're in general agreement. There are some words that
drive me up the wall too and so I can understand it if you'd rather not
use this one. But I think the concept has some mileage left.

Murthy

-- 
Murthy Yenamandra                  mailto:yenamand at cs.umn.edu
Dept of Computer Science           University of Minnesota
"brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio" - Horace