tolerance

Sing the Human, Electric

“It is not our difference that divides us.
It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences”
~Audre Lorde

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We live in an era in which our individual and collective identities appear to have taken on an increased importance in their presumed ability to establish who we are—and who we believe we are not. But who are we really? Whomever we decide to be, we tend to construct such stories in terms of what we have come to call identity politics. Take a look at these “food for thought” articles related to this issue.  Then consider some of the ramifications of such methods of self-recognition and, indeed, self-creation.

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Free Tea in the South

“Human freedom is not freedom from conditions,
but freedom to take a stand and to face whatever conditions
might confront [us]” ~ Viktor Frankl

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Remember the nomadic Giusepi Spadafora, the Tea Man? Instead of going west last fall, it turns out, the Tea Man and Edna Lu (the traveling Tea Bus) went south.  You can read a detailed account of what he has been up to the last few months on his blog.

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A Little Gratitude

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While a follow-up piece around Tim Snyder’s book On Tyranny was planned for this week, given the tragedy unfolding in the Houston area (and the general tragedy occurring in the U.S. in general), perhaps we should pause and give thanks for some instances of Good and the people who initiated them.

Jennifer-Hofmann (small)This week, on her weekly Action List, under the “Acts of Gratitude” section, Jen Hofmann posted the following entries (appearing here verbatim, but be sure to check out Jen’s list).

Acts of Gratitude
Get out your stamps, postcards, and sparkle markers for some gratitude mail. (more…)

Free Speech and Tolerance

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The “truth” or a “right” position is often not as cut and dried as we would like to believe.  What do you feel when you read something like this: “[Richard] Spencer has used his right to free speech to call for “peaceful ethnic cleansing” — presumably this entails scaring people into fleeing and/or using the legal system to forcibly purge all people of color and indigenous peoples from the United States”?  Do you—taking the position of a free speech purist or absolutist–believe this person (Spencer) has the right to speak such words in a public forum?  On the other hand, do you resonate more with a position like “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.” ~Mirah Curzer

Akin to a seekingGood posting regarding objectivity and neutrality, Julia Serano, author if Whipping Girl, presents a challenge to our ideas regarding free speech.

While Ms. Serano posted the original article a couple weeks ago, the response was so strong, on the 19th of Feb, she posted a follow-up.