- Joined
- Jan 24, 2013
- Messages
- 20,738
- Reaction score
- 6,290
- Location
- Sunnyvale California
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
Here is a important question to know: are differences of political opinion something that you are able to tolerate?
Here is a important question to know: are differences of political opinion something that you are able to tolerate?
Here is a important question to know: are differences of political opinion something that you are able to tolerate?
I mean it depends on the political opinion doesn't it? If you're a literal nazi, totalitarian, fascist, anarchist or supremacist of some stripe, whether white, Jewish, Chinese or whatever, probably not.
I suppose the answer to the question would depend on how the one asking interprets the term, "tolerate".
I have no problem with people having and expressing ANY political opinion. I'm quite willing to discuss that opinion with ANYBODY. What I have see of late, however, is that on regular occasion my disagreement with certain opinions is viewed as a threat, a lie, ignorance or anything else. If someone's political opinion is that I'm an asshole because I disagree with them then I tend to become less tolerant of the individual and generally dismissive of their opinion.
We tend to think that the written rules matter a lot, and they do. The written constitution, the written law — these are important.
But our point in How Democracies Die is that unwritten rules matter, too.
Mutual toleration, for example, is a precondition for viable competition because if you don’t accept rivals as legitimate, then you will go to any length possible to prevent them from getting into power or ejecting them from power. And so, in a sense, even treating your rivals as rivals and not enemies is necessary in order for there to be disagreement and for the political game to continue.
Forbearance is about self-restraint and really has its origins in a pre-democratic world. Absolute kings needed to show forbearance and not kill everyone in order to keep their systems stable. So forbearance is a norm about stability. In a democracy, people with power also have to act with forbearance and self-restraint.
Again, this rule isn’t written in the Constitution, but it’s a norm, an unwritten rule. If it’s violated by one side, you get this tendency towards monopoly. If it’s violated on both sides, you get institutional warfare and escalation.
The reason why I mentioned “toleration” is because I recently read an article interviewing a political scientist who argues that mutual toleration and forbearance as essential unwritten rules that need to be followed in order for Our system of government to work properly.
Here is the quote by the author of the book how democracies die that Inspired my question.
American democracy: Is it broken? - Vox
One of the problems I think with American politics is that the political extremes of both sides consider their political rivals to be enemies
The reason why I mentioned “toleration” is because I recently read an article interviewing a political scientist who argues that mutual toleration and forbearance as essential unwritten rules that need to be followed in order for Our system of government to work properly.
Here is the quote by the author of the book how democracies die that Inspired my question.
American democracy: Is it broken? - Vox
One of the problems I think with American politics is that the political extremes of both sides consider their political rivals to be enemies
Here is a important question to know: are differences of political opinion something that you are able to tolerate?
What we're seeing today is the personalization of politics and it seems to be driven, primarily, by social media. Lots of folks seem to like the idea that they can more or less customize their world and optimize it with regard to all the stuff that works for them. When all that effort and strategy put in to building the world you want gets challenged some people have a hard time accepting that their reality isn't the reality. We see a small example of stuff like that all the time on forums just like this when someone has a total meltdown, posts a GBCW thread or self-terminates because the rules don't work the way they want them to. When I was an admin on another forum several years ago it blew my mind that people would freak out if I gave them a simple warning about conduct. Now, with the increase in social media use, it seems to not only be getting worse but it's bleeding over into primary media sources and even on to main street.
I seriously believe that people are becoming less and less capable of differentiating between real life and "virtual" life.
And what created that mindset? The desire for instant gratification and the over-emphasis on individual self interest that has become prevalent in today’s culture had to have played some role in the phenomenon you described.