In class on Friday, we discussed the issues of gun control, gay
marriage, and birth control. As the discussion progressed, tolerance seemed to
be mentioned more and more seeing as though it is largely the underlying theme
behind these issues. While most of us can agree that everyone is entitled to
their own opinion and beliefs, not everyone is necessarily tolerant of other
opinions.
There
would appear to be some debate about the difference between tolerating other
people’s personal beliefs and agreeing with them. Obviously not everyone is
going to agree with my personal stances on the issues of gun control, gay
marriage, and birth control, but I would at least expect people to be tolerant
of them. In my opinion, tolerance and open mindedness are synonymous. So I
don’t have to agree with other people’s opinions, but I try to be as open
minded to other opinions as possible. I think everyone can think of at least
one person that they have encountered who has completely dismissed your beliefs
as being just plain wrong because it doesn’t agree with theirs. And I think we can all agree that it should not be that way.
Twitter
has become a popular social media to express political views, especially with
the 2012 election. I recently stumbled open the conservative author David
Limbaugh’s twitter and saw this tweet: “On both social issues and
immigration I'm open to all ideas … that I agree with. Hey, it's the Obama way
of "compromise." Unfortunately, this mindset is common in both
parties and at least David Limbaugh is honest. Hypocrisy is quite prevalent
with regards to tolerance, in that a lot of people preach about open mindedness
and often criticize people for being intolerant when they are intolerant
themselves.
I
think it’s important for today’s political parties to be able to truly
compromise on today’s issues by accepting that though they might not agree with
opinions that differ from theirs, they have to remember to try to accept that
and understand their stance in order to be tolerant.
The subject of tolerance is definitely a very touchy subject in regards to politics nowadays. I agree with your position that people should be able to compromise and understand opinions that do not necessarily agree with their own. In today's society, social and political ways of life take on both sides of the spectrum, while people's opinions tend to follow this trend as well. People tend to believe that what they think is the best option for everyone, and in most instances, this is not true. I believe that if people were more open minded to things such as gun control, gay marriage, and birth control, that our society could inevitably come to moderate decisions that can please a greater majority of people rather than taking a heavier stances on subjects. In response to your statement regarding the increasing popularity of social networking and twitter in particular, I believe that many issues regarding tolerance in the recent past has been a result of people abusing social networks. People see power in being able to rave about their personal views in public, and I believe that it inevitably causes greater tension amongst those with opposing views.
ReplyDeleteWhile people should be able to establish a compromise, it is often difficult to be accepting of everyone else’s opinions, especially, when their opinions directly conflict with your views. I agree that we shouldn’t completely dismiss someone’s ideas, but I think it is in our nature to be relatively close minded. Some people find it difficult to be even remotely tolerant to some radical ideas.
ReplyDeleteIn politics, it is especially important to be able to compromise. If our government could never reach a compromise, then we would have a seriously useless and disordered system. Tolerance is key. Our political parties must be able to for compromises for the good of our nation.