The Imprecise Science of Intolerance

Photo by: Waponi (Creative Commons)

There are many things that I do not understand. Among those are physics, the appeal of soccer and why Two Broke Girls is still on the air (with any luck I will need to update this reference inside six months) but the top of the list is the question of intolerance.

By definition, being intolerant is a “refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs, persons of different races or backgrounds, etc.”

If that’s the case, then what are all the people that are claiming that others are being intolerant doing?

Being intolerant.

Only they don’t see it that way. After all, their opinions and beliefs MUST be the correct ones, right? I mean, they’re progressive and accepting of everyone and everything – except what people who don’t agree with them believe.

I have seen a lot of this in the past week – well, to be fair it’s been a lot longer than that but perhaps I have just been more aware of it this week.

To be honest, I am not sure that I am not being intolerant just by pointing out that I think there a lot of pots calling kettles black.

From what I can see, we are only a few steps away from going completely over the edge with this intolerance of intolerance.

What is going to happen the next time you go to a baseball or football game? Clearly you’re not likely to go to a soccer game…match…or whatever it’s called unless you get up at three in the morning and tune into the soccer network. Think about it, a stadium full of fans of two different teams and half think the blue team is the best the other half think the yellow team is the best.

But who is right? Both sets of fans think they’re right and neither will “respect contrary opinions” expressed by the others.

Intolerance in action.

Want to see the future? We’re going to have to do away with sports, award shows, opinion polls, state fairs, game shows, television shows, movies, restaurant and movie critics, all colors, books, Star Wars Episodes I, II and II – certainly we can all agree that they were total crap, right – perhaps not, so all of them have to go, colleges, high schools, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts AND their cookies – see what you people are doing? –  AND – this one will make a lot of people happy – religions.

That including the ones that no one speaks negatively about for fear of Jihad – even though they are JUST as intolerant as Christianity is made out to be – which is so easy and popular to criticize only we don’t, well, never mind.

I know right?

I guess it would be wrong of me to say that I just cannot figure out how a group of people that believe that they are so enlightened, so much smarter than everyone else, so much more sophisticated, more in touch, enlighten, accepting and just plain better than everyone else can miss how wrong they are.

You see it right? Sure you do?

And hey, if you disagree with me, that’s OK, I get it, but I think you should know that…

YOU’RE INTOLERANT!

If you have any thoughts I would love to hear them – just know I may not agree – making me intolerant.