Tolerance is the appreciation of diversity and the ability to live & let others live. It is the ability to exercise a fair attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, religion, nationality etc., differ from one's own. Tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person.
Intolerance is the failure to appreciate & respect the practices, opinions & beliefs of another group. For instance, intolerances over issues could be of identity (caste, religion), self-determination, statehood, return right for refugees, etc. The result is continuing inter-group violence.
Violence is the exertion of force so as to injure (physically or mentally) or abuse. The word is used to describe a destructive action, forceful and intentional injury to people, damage to property and verbal & emotional abuse towards others.
With the lack of experience, individuals base their opinions of one another on assumptions. This can be influenced by the positive or negative beliefs of those who are most influential in their lives, (parents, family members, colleagues, educators, and/or role models). This leads to perpetuation of intolerance among individuals.
Individual attitudes are influenced by the images of other groups in the media and press. In education, there exists school curriculum & educational literature that provide biased and/or negative historical accounts of world cultures. Education or schooling based on myths can demonize and dehumanize other cultures rather than promote cultural understanding and a tolerance for diversity and differences.
Tolerating tolerance is preferable to tolerating intolerance. How can one be tolerant of those who are intolerant of them? For many, tolerating intolerance is neither acceptable nor possible. Being tolerant remains a key to easing hostile tensions between. In cases of violent conflict, being tolerant helps the affected groups endure the pain of the past and resolve their differences. Some ideas:
Individuals: Individuals should continually focus on being tolerant of others in their daily lives. This involves consciously challenging the stereotypes and assumptions that they typically encounter in making decisions about others and/or working with others either in a social or a professional environment.
Press Media: The media should use positive images to promote understanding and cultural sensitivity. The more people are exposed to positive media messages about other cultures, the less they are likely to find faults with one another. Particularly those communities, who have little access to the outside world and are susceptible to what the media tells them! Ironically, media opts for sensationalism & it indirectly perpetuates negative images of different groups. SHUN SENSATIONALISM!
Education: Educators are instrumental in promoting tolerance and peaceful coexistence. For instance, schools that create a tolerant environment help young people respect and understand different cultures.
Cinema: Stop glorifying violence and justifying terrorism. This is impossible as this entire media is sponsored by terrorists themselves. The irony is, we have more movie-watchers than blog-readers! They are powerful and if they mean it positive, they can do a world of good to the society!
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Meera Sridharan,
you are wrong. Sulekha has got a wider reach indeed. as you are new, you are unaware of its strength. you will realize once you keep visiting here regularly.
thanks for your comments
gopal
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gud one. but it has to be forwarded to as many as email ids as everyone dont have a chance to open suleka blogs
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thankyou lotuspetals
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Congrats.....Gopalkrishanan........When I read your entry i was sure about your win....Nicely written....regards.......aruna
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thank you womanslove!
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powerful write indeed Gopal ji
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thank you Mo-mad for your comments!
I do agree with you to some extent. However, the blunders mentioned by you were not made by individuals but the so-called rulers. We had the option of choosing our rulers and we repeatedly made that mistake of choosing the wrong ones (under the name of Gandhi to a large extent). We deserve we have today.
Hope the newer generation realizes this.
I intentionally avoided the political tone in this blog as politics is one factor that is beyond our control as on date. The opportunities to alter it is limited.
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thank you umaduayshankar for your comments!
Even media personnel are aware that positive journalism always play a pivotal role in the society. However, when business goals takes priority over journalism, the latter gets hit. it is the irony of the situation. We no longer have Goenka!
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Dear Gopalkrishnan,
No discussion on tolerance/intolerance and its concsequent violence can ever be complete without intolerance stemming from religious / ideological exclusivism. How can there be respect for other ways of life, when all that the Xtist Babble and the Muslim Koran preaches are hatred for all those that do not conform to their path? The Amarnath land issue would not have happened nor would the Babri masjid issue, the criminal xtist conversion frauds etc. are all manifestations of this same exclusivism driven hatred and intolerance.
Unless exclusivism is banned / explicitly criminalized in this world and in particular India, there will not exist tolerance of differing views and hence no peace on earth.
India in particular is sitting on a loudly ticking bomb of communal civil war, because of the Xtist and Muslim penchant for exclusivism driven hatred and the Hindu's penchant for inaction and tolerance of intolerance...
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you are abslutely right . media can change the society by positive measurements .
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