Intolerance to the Intolerant

The Paradox of Tolerance was stated by philosopher Karl Popper in the 1940s. He says that if everyone is tolerant of every idea, then, intolerant ideas will emerge. Tolerant people will tolerate intolerance, and the intolerant people will not tolerate the tolerant people. Eventually, the intolerant people will take over and create a society of intolerance. Therefore, Popper said, to maintain a society of tolerance, the tolerant must be intolerant of intolerance. Hence the paradox.

Sounds familiar? This is happening all over the world today. I saw a video that showed 3 separate incidents in 3 countries in Europe where the indigenous population are asking the immigrants to get out of their countries and the consistent response I noticed from the immigrants in all the countries is that they will soon outnumber the indigenous population and it will be the latter who will have to leave their own countries. Even in the US, immigration has become a big issue in the forthcoming US Presidential Election. People are talking of anywhere between 11 to 17 million illegal immigrants that the current administration is not cracking down upon so that those who support these illegal immigrants will vote for them.

Closer home, in India, this is playing out in many different ways. The hitherto docile, tolerant and divided Hindus are suddenly waking up to having their rights back. Why should the State control their places of worships (temples) whilst those of the minorities (read as churches, mosques, gurudwaras) are not? Why should minorities be allowed to preach their religions in schools whilst the majority cannot? Why should there be different Civil Laws in line with religious needs? Why should it take 500 years to win a legal battle to build a temple in a place where the majority feel that their God was born? Why should people treating minorities as vote banks and winning elections not be replaced by a political party that supports the majority? The momentum has only increased with the coming to power of the Hindu Nationalist Party, BJP. These are questions that must be asked. As Karl Popper said, the tolerant people are waking up to intolerance that had been meted out to them for centuries and are suddenly becoming intolerant to the intolerance.

An old Tamizh saying, ???? ?????????? ???? ????????? meaning “What you sow, so shall you reap” is apt here. When you sow intolerance, you will get back only intolerance, however tolerant a society may be!!! And, if the tolerant society does not do this, it will be at its own peril. And this intolerance to the intolerant will be for very long as it releases pent up anger and frustrations. Our situation today in many parts of the world is very similar. There is no need for a volcano when so much is erupting already.

One way is to educate our children on why tolerance is essential and the only way forward. Children should also be taught that if they keep quiet to intolerance, then, it is at their own peril. Our education institutions must step forward in this regard. Most importantly, it is essential to teach that every life form (human, plant, animal, etc) has a role and a right to live on this planet. No species comes at the cost of another. Human Centric Design must give way to Life Centric Design.