Bad Words: Tolerance

There are plenty of words I despise, but none does the devil’s work as well as this one.

Trust me: I’ll keep my distance.

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, “tolerance noun (acceptable)” is:

willingness to accept behavior and beliefs that are different from your own, although you might not agree with or approve of them

Further down the page, we come across “tolerance noun (ability to deal with)”:

the ability to deal with something unpleasant or annoying, or to continue existing despite bad or difficult conditions (emphasis mine)

There is a very clear difference between accepting difference and dealing with something unpleasant or annoying.

In what world is “racial tolerance” an inspiring goal?

The algorithms are alright.

Who wants to aspire towards tolerating immigrants?

Tolerance towards minorities gives opponents of diversity too much credit.

I mean, it’s better than the opposite, but…

Despite the efforts of the AdCouncil, religious pluralism seems to remain a struggle.

What were ordinary Muslims doing that was so noxious from 1995–2005?

These different ways of being, of simply existing, cannot be considered unpleasant or annoying without dehumanizing the subjects in question.

The problem is the people who believe in hateful superstitions in the first place.

The victims of those beliefs are hardly what’s objectionable here.

Using “tolerance” as an aspirational goal legitimizes hostility towards people different from yourself, others those people, and is really just… intolerable.

Do better, English.