Why do we tolerate intolerance?
Rod Liddle in The Spectator discusses some of the issues that I've been ranting about lately.
Money quote:
When Islam appears on the agenda, the goalposts are moved: the normal rational thought processes are not applied. Suddenly those Left-liberal shibboleths are not very important: they can be forgotten. Append the description ‘Muslim’ to anyone and all bets are off; he or she can get away with pretty much anything, be it the execution of homosexuals or the idea that Jews and Freemasons are running the government. This springs from the misconception, widespread on the Left, that being anti-Islam is in some way ‘racist’. It is not. It has nothing to do with race — as I daresay Mr Ahmad Thomson, that lawyer I mentioned earlier, would confirm. One is not born believing that the world is a Zionist conspiracy any more than one is born believing that we are all the subjects of giant alien lizards.
If you want to read some more sanity from Great Britain, read the whole thing, here.
Money quote:
When Islam appears on the agenda, the goalposts are moved: the normal rational thought processes are not applied. Suddenly those Left-liberal shibboleths are not very important: they can be forgotten. Append the description ‘Muslim’ to anyone and all bets are off; he or she can get away with pretty much anything, be it the execution of homosexuals or the idea that Jews and Freemasons are running the government. This springs from the misconception, widespread on the Left, that being anti-Islam is in some way ‘racist’. It is not. It has nothing to do with race — as I daresay Mr Ahmad Thomson, that lawyer I mentioned earlier, would confirm. One is not born believing that the world is a Zionist conspiracy any more than one is born believing that we are all the subjects of giant alien lizards.
If you want to read some more sanity from Great Britain, read the whole thing, here.
posted by semite1973 at 5:56 AM
2 Comments:
YOU know this, and I know this, but how do we present this to the people who need to hear it?
Many of them don't want to hear it - it would create too much cognitive dissonance to change lifelong opinions. And one simply cannot admit to having been wrong since the 60s.
Others just want this whole thing quietly on the periphery so that they can go back to their easy, uncomplicated lifestyle. I know lots of people like this.
Still another group will seem to rationally listen and agree to points, only to be seen a week later agreeing with the "I hate Israel, but that doesn't make me an anti-semite" crowd at Starbucks.
Seriously, I'm running out of ideas here.
Airforce wife, you are so right, especially about the cognitive dissonance aspect.
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