I don’t like appeasement very much. Being a little too tolerant even of those not tolerant of us. But I see a lot of it. I don’t like the mindset of “we must accept everyone and everything”. I understand where it is coming from, this line of thinking. I understand the fear of offending people, the way it has people walking on eggshells but it kinda terrifies me because where do we draw the line? What must we tolerate, and what can we not tolerate?
For example, I had a conversation with my brother about this the other day… he told me “we should not appease recent Muslim immigrants too much, and allow too many in our country if they do not adopt our culture and our ways…”
“Why?” I asked him, “shouldn’t we just accept them as they are?”
“I used to think that, too,” my brother said, “but I don’t think I have the luxury… I am gay, and some Muslim youths actually beat up gay men, we cannot even walk hand-in-hand anymore in some streets in our own damn country…”
“That’s tragic…”
“It’s not just tragic, it’s a fucking tragedy. And how many children do they have on average, as opposed to us who are, on average, more open minded with these things?”
“A lot more, I reckon…”
“Way, way more! The more conservative the family and the more traditional the parents, the larger the number of kids. Who will likely adopt many of the values of their parents.”
He was getting very fired up, my brother. He was also kinda scared. For his future. For that of his friends. He was frustrated because he was concerned not only for his own safety — he’s a tall and very strong man — but for those of his weaker and more sensitive buddies. He was also angry. Incredibly, furiously angry, at those who appeased religious minorities with views strongly contrary to his lifestyle. Who hated him, for who he was, he felt. And he was especially angry by his more liberal friends who told him to be more tolerant. Tolerant of people who did not tolerate him, or his friends…
Sometimes you read stories of women being killed for having ‘ruined the family honor’ or men being thrown off high buildings to their death for being gay and you wonder… how much of this should be, can be, be tolerated?
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