SUICIDAL TOLERANCE

The most “woke“ among us are advocating suicidal tolerance. Why is it suicidal? Because what they urge will eradicate tolerance itself. Whence springs this wooly-headed tolerance? A main source is their conviction that values are mere “social constructs.” Value free in and of themselves. None better, none worse. Except that some cultures are so violently intolerant, advocating tolerance will get you killed.

Paradoxically, women are among the most vocal boosters. Indeed the worst offenders are academic women. One wants to ask these females, so you don’t think it wrong to have some crone excise village girl’s clitoris’s with a razor blade? How about forbidding women to vote? Requiring them to be absolutely obedient to their husbands? Or to suffer death by stoning if thought to be guilty of adultery? Should these ladies disapprove of any such things, they cannot logically insist that cultural practices are value free! But, they do, of course.

In the real world, cultural practices often have weighty moral content. Attitudes regarding individualism provide one example. The fact that individualism has moral content is precisely why some cultures suppress it. They disapprove of the underlying value it places on individual perceptions, judgements and choices. The Taliban, for instance, permit nothing of the kind. For example, these zealous fanatics punish any individuals who question the smallest details of their very narrow interpretation of Islam. These true believers even forbid listening to music and flying kites — the later a very popular past time with Afghan children. Why? Because they perceive such enjoyment as having negative moral enjoyment as having negative moral content.

Of course cultural practices can have weighty moral value. And that is exactly why they do NOT have equal value. Just the opposite. In fact, that’s why cultures are more or less dysfunctional. Because of what they will or won’t tolerate and the human happiness or misery this spawns. 

The Taliban are a sterling example of a dangerously dysfunctional culture. Of course it’s intolerant to make such a claim. But, tolerance is not always desirable. After all, some practices, rape, honor killing, and genocide, for instance, are plainly intolerable. Even a Harvard professor should be able to see that. But some don’t.

Let’s dig a little deeper into cultural relativism’s implications. A major one is that relativism opposes any rankings based on merit. Do you want your favorite baseball team to acquire a highly skilled pitcher; or prefer having your heart surgery performed by a highly skilled surgeon? Well, according to these true believers, you are supporting existing racial and socioeconomic hierarchies. But so does insisting these “woke” individuals be able to tell their ass from third base. And apparently they can’t.

A recent protest by Harvard students illustrates how far this silliness has advanced. Concerned that A’s now make up 60% of all Harvard course grades — up from 24% in 2005, it’s proposed that A course grades be capped at 20%. This prompted a student petition asserting that assigning grades on the basis of performance creates “a system of ranking and sorting that mirrors and reinforces existing racial and socioeconomic hierarchies.” So does identifying the best structural engineers. But if we stop doing that, crossing a bridge or occupying a high rise, will become a whole lot riskier.

Clearly such an approach tumbles into Lala land..So let’s be intolerant of the judgement free tolerance advocated by the most “woke” among us. Remember, these folks aren’t really woke at all — they’re dreaming! But their dream is becoming our nightmare.