The Veil of Intolerance
Gustavo Pérez
Firmat once said: “The fact that I’m writing to you in English already
falsifies what I wanted to tell you. My subject: How to explain to you that I
don’t belong to English even though I belong nowhere else.”[1]
He’s right, he doesn’t belong to English, and as a French-Canadian from Quebec,
nor do I. I don’t belong to French either. In fact, English belongs to me, and so
does French. These incredibly rich tools are at my disposal. Consequently, I don’t
belong to them, they belong to me. People don’t belong to languages, nor do
they belong to a “race” or nation. Sadly, humans tend to be close-minded towards
differences; they tend to be intolerant. Today, the rise of populism and the
strong return of xenophobia in modern politics leave the Western World more
divided than ever with, on one side, the “alt-right” and, on the other, the “leftists
snowflakes”.
Most importantly,
the election of Donald Trump, the United States’ forty-fifth President, shocked
Western democracies. The recent electoral successes of populists, like Mr.
Trump, Madam Le Pen (France) and Mr. Wilders (Netherlands) symbolizes the
return of xenophobia as a popular ideology in occidental societies. According
to the Oxford dictionary, xenophobia is “a dislike of or a prejudice against
people from other countries”. Xenophobia’s brother, Racism –a belief that race
is the primary feature of human traits and capacities and that racial
differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race- is also an
ideology often defended by the Alt-Right thinkers such as Richard Spencer, who
once said: “America was, until this past generation, a white country designed
for ourselves and our posterity”. Spencer mostly advocates for a white
ethno-state[2]. Spencer’s comments are
offensive because they trivialize
racism, an ideology which proclaims the superiority of a “race” and
applies biased characteristics to a general population. Racism makes no sense
because people bear fundamental differences both biologically and
psychologically. Fingerprints are the perfect example, as they are unique to
one person. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. If twins are
different individuals even though they possess the same DNA, how can we reasonably
legitimize an ideology that promotes people that have predetermined
characteristics based on their skin color? White Supremacists are right,
though, when they say there is a “superior race” on Earth. It’s called the
“Human Race”. Surely they must have heard of it. The Homo Sapiens is a great
species, when it doesn’t let preconceived idea cloud its judgement.
However, if “liberals”
tend to be more tolerant toward physical differences (such as the colour of
one’s skin), they often forget their tolerance when it comes to accepting
political differences. Fareed Zakaria, the host of the Global Public Square
-which airs on CNN- explains it this way: “American Universities, these days,
seem to be committed to every kind of diversity except intellectual diversity.
Conservative voices and views, already a besieged minority, are being silenced
entirely”[3]. The
idea behind freedom of expression, which is at the center of liberal thinking,
can be represented by this apocryphal quote attributed to Voltaire: “I disagree
with every word that you have said, but I will defend to the death your right
to say it.” In the United States vs.
Schwimmer (1929), the dissenting judge Oliver Wendell Holmes said that when
protecting freedom of thought, we are not protecting “free thought for those
who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.” Today, liberals’
greatest challenge is that they must be tolerant towards what they perceive as
intolerance. Unfortunately, they are often unable to do that. In February 2017,
Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing thinker, had to be evacuated out of the
University of California in Berkeley due to violent protests. Perhaps the most
striking example is the reprimand Wilfrid Laurier’s professor, Lindsay Shepherd,
got when she tried to show her students how to break a communication bubble. A
communication bubble refers to people being trapped in echo chambers that feed
them information that only reinforces their pre-existing beliefs (often a
result of people only seeking out information that would confirm that they are
right). This phenomenon often alters reality for people caught in such a
chamber. Ideological echo chambers tend to radicalize their prey. In return,
the prey dismisses news that contradict their beliefs. They then lose their
objectivity over certain topics, which causes them to look at reality as if
through a distorted lens. A perfect example would be how Trump’s supporters
dismiss any news that report the 45th president’s mistakes. In her
attempt to demonstrate how to break such bubbles, Ms. Shepherd screened a video
in which University of Toronto’s professor Jordan Peterson and Nicholas Mattes
debated about gender-neutral pronouns and Bill C-16. Dr. Peterson gained
international fame by criticizing this bill which forced him to employ these
pronouns. He was primarily opposed to letting the government control the
language he used to address others. It appears that Ms. Shepherd, in her
attempt to show how to break ideological echo chambers, violated the
University’s “Gendered Violence and Sexual Assault Policy to the Ontario Human
Rights Code to Bill C-16”. Isn’t it ironic that a law makes it illegal to show
a video in which this same law is criticized? In Quebec, the group “La Meute” was forced to
gather inside a parking lot because “Antifa” counter-protesters confined them
there. These are all attacks on liberty of expression and on intellectual
diversity. The “left” answers perceived hatred with violence. Is this really
what liberalism stands for? How can somebody call himself a liberal when he
can’t even respect the principle of freedom of speech? Liberals must stand up and protect the
freedom of their political opponents. Otherwise, how can they justify their
own? It is with love that we must answer hate, with love that we can cure hate.
Instead of labeling the right as a “basket of deplorables” (Hillary Clinton
2017), the left should reach out to those who feel left behind, who are afraid
of the unknown, who are lost. Mankind works at its best when it opens its arms.
Finally, humanity
wears a veil of intolerance. As it looks through this veil, it is blinded by
preconceived ideas and by a sense of moral righteousness. This blindness traps
society in a bubble of group thinking, which makes it “unwilling to grant equal
freedom of expression or equal rights” to others. Conservative or liberal, it’s all the same. They
feel so morally superior that they refuse to hear views that contradict their
own; they only want to hear thinkers who will confirm their opinions. This lack
of public debate only exacerbates tensions in the political spectrum as
extremes, both on the left and on the right, continue to grow. As a centrist, I
refuse to choose between a language. I refuse to let identity politics steer my
attention away from real issues such as the environment and worldwide famines.
If somebody wants to greet me with a “Bonjour/Hi”, let them be. Instead of inciting
division, we should engage in rational discussions because we can accomplish so
much more when we work together. As a liberal, I refuse to let school become a
totalitarian stronghold for the radical left. I refuse to let teachers and
students alike trap me in a communication bubble because they are afraid that I
hold opinions that contradict theirs. I refuse to be afraid to speak my mind.
Marianne Deborah Williamson once wrote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are
inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measures. It is our
light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We were all meant to shine as
children do. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our
own light shine we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we
are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”[4] It
is only through love and understanding that a better world flourishes.
[2] Youtube: Roland Martin Vs White Nationalist Richard Spencer Alt-Right: https://youtu.be/goOORhMZm1o
[3] King, Alexander, “Freed Zakaria: “Liberals think they are tolerant, but
they are not”. CNN: 29/5/2017. https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/28/us/fareed-zakaria-liberals-cnntv/index.html
[4] Williamson, Marianne Deborah. A Return
to Love: Reflections on the Principle of a Course in Miracles. Harper
Collins, 1992. Chapter 7, Section 3 (Pg. 190-191)
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