tolerance , The Mechanics of Virtue, Matt Berry, aphorism 71

71
Only from the superior position can tolerance be conferred.  Yet it is precisely this tolerance which those in inferior positions condemn as “permissiveness” – and all the while of course, they themselves continue to demand tolerance for their own customs.  There is hope however.  Their demand is a belligerent use of a concept whose declared aim, if held long enough, might become a custom itself.  That is, the declared aim of tolerance might survive the success of its own intolerant motives.



A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism



Popular posts from this blog

A valuable book, A Human Strategy, aphorism 387

387 A valuable book may be torn to pieces without diminishing the human spirit, just so long as the words have already been read and understood.  To feel the loss of the book — at its material destruction, even though one had already digested its contents fully and had aligned oneself toward its overall direction — is evidence that one values the non-human being over human becoming , the static thing over the dynamic process .  In response to the fear of our unknowable future we would rather freeze ourselves into a single stage of growth at the expense of the entire metamorphosis. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism
Read more
The Ascetic Impulse: We think we deliberately hurt ourselves when it is simply that we do know which version of ourselves will satisfy our needs more fully. We try on a personality as if trying on new clothes. Bizarrely, the self we beat up has heretofore been a complete stranger.
Read more