The Paradox of Tolerance is Real, Look at Israel

  Blender Dumbass
December 06, 2025

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https://blenderdumbass.org/articles/the_paradox_of_tolerance_is_real__look_at_israel : 👁 1

#tolerance #paradoxoftolerance #israel #palestine #politics #philosophy

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People like to pretend that everything is simple. That every problem has a straight forward, easy solution. That the paradox of tolerance is not real, because you could simply look at it a bit differently and it magically disappears, or something. People claim a soothing claim that all you need to do to make the paradox go away is to think of it as a "social contract". If you are not willing to tolerate, you are not tolerated. But I happened to live in Israel...

The Paradox of Tolerance is a political problem where you unsure how to react to people that are hateful toward you ( or some other group ). Take Nazis for example. Everybody ( apart from Nazis themselves ) would agree that Nazis are terrible. And therefor should not be tolerated. Israel, for example, has specific laws outlining specifically various Nazi-supporting ideas as banned. I'm not kidding. And so does a lot of countries in EU and alike. But Nazis may argue that we are hypocritical for hating them.

If the reason we hate on Nazis is that they hate on groups of people, be it for racial or religious or ideological reasons, then us hating on them for this very ideological reason, is a form of the same thing. And so therefor to truly be against Nazism is to allow Nazism as well... Right? That makes no sense. That is the paradox at hand.

The "solution" proposes that by looking at it as a "social contract" of sorts where tolerance is only given to those who are willing to tolerate others, fixes the paradox and makes everything suddenly simple. But that is an ignorant position. Let me try to explain.

Say you were born in Israel. And you really want to be a good person. You are not a Nazi and you don't want nobody to suffer. Suddenly you come to realization that there is a group of people that hates you, seemingly for ideological / religious reasons. And that group is Palestinians.

There is a lot of context to the history in the region that might rationalize one hate or the other. Israelis usually tell their side, trying to suppose that their hate towards Palestinians is "justified" and Palestinians tell their side of the story to "justify" their hate. But frankly nobody is justified.

So here comes the paradox again. Should Israelis tolerate Palestinians, even though Palestinians will not tolerate Israelis? Or should Palestinians tolerate Israelis even though Israelis will not tolerate Palestinians? If you say that the "solution" is this "social contract" and you should not tolerate those unwilling to tolerate, you get the war. And because one side has way more funding, military aid and other support from various countries, you get an outright massacre.

On the other hand what if both sides suddenly decided to try to tolerate each other. I know... this is not something that is likely to happen, but what if? That could actually be a good thing to de-escalate the conflict and maybe even bring the two groups together into something more akin to peace in the end of the day. But no... you should not tolerate those unwilling to tolerate. Right?

This Israel vs Palestine thing is a very bad example of the underlying problem, but we have another one. Not as bloody. But probably as significant ( if not more so ). The divide between the left and the right ( globally ).

Both left and right likes to call the other side "Nazis". Left calls the right "Nazis" because the right is more favorable to racism and other forms of discrimination. Right calls the left "Nazis" because of the left's tendency to lose temper and become outright violent when it comes to the members of the right. Antifa is now a hate group. And people like Bryan Lunduke were calling Antifa a "fascist organization" ( I'm not kidding ), for years. He also calls DEI "discriminatory".

Nobody on the left seems to know the way the right frames things because they are unwilling to communicate. They are unwilling to "tolerate" their ideas. But the same is happening on the right. When I speak to the members of the right, I quickly understand that they are completely ignorant about the positions and perspectives of the left. And that is how you get "DEI being discriminatory" and "Antifa being fascist" bullshit.

Each of the sides decided to stay away from the other. And shame their own member for even the slight association with the other. All in the name of the "solution" to the paradox of tolerance. Which only makes the situation worse and worse. People are more and more angry at one another. And I fear I know where it is going to lead.

Look, I'm not saying that you are wrong for having your ideas. What I'm saying is that, maybe, listening to the other side. Maybe tolerating the other side, just enough to let them feel welcome, will give you an opportunity to change their mind. Shaming will not do that. And trying to disassociate will just drive us all into war.

Happy Hacking!!!


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  Troler c:0



Reminds me the problem of democracy, taking Nazis as the example. Hitler was democratically elected to be the leader. People chose tyranny over democracy and thus their democratic institution was destroyed.The Germans loved him

This goes back even further. French voted for Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte to be their president. I am not talking about Napoleon I, this is Napoleon the III. From 1852 he consolidated power and declared himself an emperor. The French loved him.

In times of strife, might wins the fight.

Reply

  Troler c:1



The reason the left and the right are divided, since they both have their arms. One side wants to cut off each other. I propose we cut both hands and have the legs do the job!

... replies ( 1 )

  Blender Dumbass c:2



@Troler lol

Reply

  Blender Dumbass c:2

... c:1

  Troler c:1

The divide between the left and the right ( globally ).

The reason the left and the right are divided, since they both have their arms. One side wants to cut off each other. I propose we cut both hands and have the legs do the job!

@Troler lol

Reply