Tolerance In Modern Day Politics – Can Tolerance Exist?
Tolerance in US Politics
By Alexandra Rosen
Wise is he, or she, who practices turning the other cheek. Our country, the “great” America, was, theoretically speaking, founded on tolerance. Unfortunately, now we seem to have a lot of trouble keeping that idealistic goal of tolerance at the forefront of our domestic and foreign policy. Let it suffice for me to say that we are far from being the tolerant nation that we could be.
During Crevecoeur’s time, he saw America as a place for everyone to be at peace. He imagined that people had religious indifference; they didn’t care what their neighbors did as long as they worked hard and contributed to the community. While I would love to say that his idealistic view of the good ol’ US of A is reflected in our current state of the union…I really can’t.
There is no religious indifference, and people care far too much about what their neighbors are doing. Facebook and other social media sites have shown us that. I frequently have arguments with my Facebook friends over political matters. The big kicker: Republican vs. Democrat. And what I’ve learned is that it really doesn’t matter what most of them believe because I’ll be voting and they’ll probably be too busy complaining about not having enough money to take time off to vote.
Living in San Francisco, I realize that I have a very unfair advantage: I am surrounded by people who don’t tolerate people who don’t practice tolerance of other people. If you can’t appreciate the wonders of the Castro, don’t go there; if you aren’t into a mind-opening experience, don’t live in San Francisco. Everyone here loves to be in your face, even if not literally.
