Too long have we been tolerant towards intolerance.
I consider myself a truly tolerant person. I really do not care whether you are black or white, gay or straight, Russian or American, or even German for that matter (that was a joke, clarifying just in case), whether you are a Christian – catholic, protestant, orthodox, born-again, methodist or what have you – or a Buddhist, an atheist or a scientologist, or a Muslim. I really have no problem with you, so long as you have no problem with me.
Where faith is concerned I have opinions, those I am entitled to. Faith is something very personal (religion isn’t) and I respect all faiths. I do not have to abide to their rules though.
To be honest, I do not abide to any rules of my own supposed religion which are disrespecting me. And, we women know, even the Christian religions are demeaning and disrespectful to women. Anyone who believes that God (any version of Him) would ever create anything less than perfect in me, that my body is filthy and corrupt, well, they can – and will – go to hell!
But that’s me. You are you.
Tolerance is progress, paramount in any civilized society. And the West has shown unbelievable progress in tolerance after World War II. But how can we be tolerant of intolerance? After all, it has not been that long since we suffered the Absolute Intolerance of Nazism. Now we are supposed to tolerate the intolerance – the hate, really- that’s part of some misinterpretation of a religion? Really?
So, that’s the question we all have to ponder these days…
Humor, satire, is part of our civilization and should as such be respected. First, there is a Hollywood film and North Korea is not amused (to say the least), now this?
For me, it’s rather simple. I hate nobody, except the haters. Any haters. Well, that’s too strong a word. I dislike them…
And tonight, after the slaughter of the laughter at Charlie Hebdo, I am angry. For Wolinski in particular, my brothers and I loved him through our teen comic years – he could always make you uncomfortable. But some people could not tolerate that…
