General

The dangerous increase in tolerance

June 11, 2017

The writer is a consultant, coach, analyst and a politician and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail,com. She tweets at @AndleebAbbas 

Intolerance is a trait that we all condemn. But does that mean that its opposite, ie, tolerance is what we should embrace? It depends on what our choice for tolerance or intolerance is, on what we consider ethical or unethical and on what we consider acceptable or unacceptable. The growing tolerance to absorb, accept, value and celebrate indiscipline, inequity, injustice has made this society a tale of ridiculous depravity where every day we achieve a new low in what is the worst that can happen to us.

If there was an insensitivity index that could measure the response of the society on social issues we would find a shockingly high read on it. Being human is about being four-dimensional, ie, body, mind, heart and soul. The body to live, the mind to think, the heart to feel and the soul to go beyond, and, all these four need some functional pre-requisites. When the main focus of attention is the body and the other parts are not being catered to there is little to choose between animals and humans. Everyday such shocking incidents happen all around us and the reaction is normally so minimal both in scale and duration that the incident becomes a norm.