There seems to be a general belief, especially of those that consider themselves to be liberal in their perception, that the greatest gift that we can give to one another, is simply to be tolerant of one another. In other words, whatever that a given person, or institution, for that matter, so desires to express, is just fine, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, right or wrong, moral or immoral. To the degree, that this tolerance is limited to people’s opinions or ideas, this actually is consistent with the fact that each one of us is gifted with our own free will, thereby signifying that whatever that we so desire to do and say is at our volition, subject only to humankind’s laws. However, what we do so find in the present day, is a world in which truth is considered by many a person, as subjective – that is to say, that one person’s truth is just as valid as another person’s truth, when in a many a case, that can’t be so. In other words, those that insist 2+2 = 5, are never stating a truth, for that calculation is just plain wrong and is never going to be right.
When it comes to tolerance, people need to understand that what we should be tolerant of, is that each one of us, should be treated with respect, civility, and consideration, regardless of whether a particular idea or concept is materially wrong. After all, just because someone is mistaken, does not, in and of itself, make them a bad person, but rather, it simply means that they are wrong about something which is known for a certainty. The problem with tolerance misapplied, comes with the fact that there are specific things within society, that demand that there be principles that people must adhere to or else suffer the fair consequences for their disobedience to such. That is to say, to be tolerant of murder, rape, and robbery is the absolute wrong type of tolerance. On the other hand, those that are convinced that one race is superior to the other, or one specific creed should be the only orthodox creed, are in most cases, clearly wrong in their viewpoint, but we should be tolerant of their viewpoint, because tolerance is something that we owe one to another, because each one of us, has erred, and erred repeatedly. So too, many a person, that has a strong viewpoint upon something, currently, have subsequently seen themselves to actually flip their position, completely.
What society needs to be intolerant of, is all that which is inimical to the characteristics of justice, fairness, and harmony. That is to say, we need to be intolerant of all that which violates core principles, of what it means to be a civilization, with equal rights for all, and is no respecter of persons. As for tolerance, all of us need to think a bit less about the value of our own viewpoints and opinions, so as to give room for other people, to freely express themselves, in the understanding that none of us has a complete and full comprehension of everything. So that, we need to be more tolerant with our personal interactions with others, and intolerant with that which declares objective truth to be error, or error to be objective truth.