A reader writes concerning my commentary on Erick Erickson’s note on the right wing’s screaming incoherence and suggests a study of tolerance may be of use:
This seems an appropriate explanation for some of this flawed thinking. And it’s a really clear explanation of tolerance and peace treaties in political life. https://extranewsfeed.com/tolerance-is-not-a-moral…
And I understand where he’s coming from. It’s a lovely beckoning to the less-committed partisan of either side.
I fear I have a personality quirk that forces me to diverge from its course, though. I wish – I know this doesn’t happen – I wish that tolerance was an inverse function of rational certainty.
By this I mean – and I fear I’m talking about Vulcans and not humans – that the extent to which we tolerate the views of our fellows isn’t just a matter of survival, or lesser bloodshed, but a reflection of how certain we are of our position from a rational viewpoint; or, conversely, how much we doubt the correctness of our viewpoint.
We don’t tolerate pedophilia, as we know it damages our young, at least by Western Civ standards.
But we tolerate divergent views about incarceration for, say, involuntary manslaughter. In reality, we do so because it’s easier to tolerate than to get into fist fights every time someone disagrees with us on the subject. But we should tolerate – and compromise – because we don’t really know what to do with the idiot who screwed up and killed someone. Our certainty quotient is low, and so we should compromise.
Sadly, we are not Vulcans. Many of us run on religious precepts which mandate certainty, and yet are desperately silly. How many witches have we stoned to death lately? No divorce? Really? But this remains true: many of us are very certain that xyz is wrong and we have to impose this view on everyone else.
Or that civil forfeiture is a great way to deter crime and fund police departments.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: doubt, not Christianity or other theology, is the basis of the United States. It leads to compromise and slow, steady improvement. Every time we become blindly certain of something, we end up looking like idiots. Or worse.
We really need to get back to self-doubt. Back to being humble.
I have a stapler. Who wants their pointy ears first?
