What if we worked at tolerance? I read a post hiding bigotry and hatred by posing it as a fight against political correctness. It was dishonest and untrustworthy. They posited that not accepting their fight against “political correctness” was a sign of intolerance, weakness and dangerous to society because it hides the “real” problems. They weren’t talking about political correctness, which is meant to stand for fairness and open-mindedness, but the new subverted meaning, which is described as a condescending way of talking and elitist principles that wastes time. Read the article by linguist Dr. Anna Szilagyi on how the term has been hijacked.
By disguising their intolerant opinions as strength and fearlessness they gain support for reprehensible behavior. It’s time to cut through the double-speak and have people say what they mean without trying to make the unacceptable, mainstream. It is definitely the time for championing tolerance!
Is intolerance always wrong? No! In fact according to Alan Levinovitz, we should practice being more intolerant and I agree. Let’s make bigotry, hatred and violence against minorities wrong and not to be tolerated.
Take a different path against intolerance. Instead of judging others on how tolerant or intolerant they are which can be very subjective, apply Rotary’s 4-way test and my 5 tenets of trust to each situation. Both are non-partisan and are ethical and moral guidelines to living a life of integrity.
The Rotary 4-way test applies to the things you say or do:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
My 5 tenets of trust are based on:
- Caring – Show others you care through genuine concern and connection
- Commitment – Do what you say you will do and stick with it regardless of the difficulty.
- Consistency – Make sure that your actions and your promises align
- Competence – Are you the better than you were yesterday? What skills do you need to hone? There is never a time in your life to stop learning.
- Communication – Could someone else explain what you mean? In times of difficulty, increase your communication. Create word pictures that are so vivid, everyone understands what you are saying.
I love Trust Across America’s TAP INTO TRUST. It is time to tap into trust and bring more integrity into the world!
