Intolerance

 For those of you who know me or have followed me for a while you’ve probably noticed I’m basically apolitical. I don’t like to debate and/or defend the issues that confront our country. Don’t get me wrong, I have my opinions and I vote in every election, but for the most part, I sit back and watch others debate the issues then quietly decide what I believe.  So, when I say I’ve been deeply contemplating the current state of our society for quite some time and I feel that I can no longer be silent means what I’m about to say comes from deep in my heart.

  First and foremost, I’d like to remind everyone that our country was based on non-conformity. We went to war for the freedom to choose how we live our lives.  Unfortunately, over the years we’ve lost that focus. Yes, we still defend our right to bear arms and choose our religion, etc. but we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be the underdog. We’ve forgotten what we fought so valiantly to achieve. I’m speaking about tolerance or rather the battle against intolerance. Your first response to that word is to push back and say, “I’m tolerant. I’m not a bigot. I don’t judge people based on their race, sex, or gender preferences.”  That was my first response and if that’s your response too, that’s a great thing, but it’s not enough.

   It’s not enough to be personally tolerant. I’m speaking as a straight, white, Christian woman. When I see intolerance, I get angry. I roll my eyes, but basically, and I’m ashamed to admit this, I ignore it, then I complain about it to my friends afterward, or I unfriend someone or block the worst of them on Facebook because they’re speaking out against someone’s race, sex or gender preferences. I do my best to make sure I do not discriminate against anyone. I have a live and let live philosophy that encompasses my entire life. Yet by taking the passive route, I’ve realized I’m basically enabling the entire process. I’m actually making things worse by not addressing it. Despite the fact that I’m not the discriminating party, I’m still participating in the act of discrimination by allowing it to continue. That’s not acceptable.

   We as a society need to step up and announce that we’re not going to allow this behavior to continue AND MEAN IT. Let me ask you, if you saw a small child being yelled at by a stranger in a parking lot with no parent nearby to defend and protect them, would you step into the conversation? I hope you would. I’m not proposing that we take a baseball bat to the offending party and beat the ever-loving crap out of them. What I’m saying is that firstly, we as individual people need to step out of our comfort zone and speak out against intolerance every time, we witness it. Instead of passively hiding in the shadows swearing that we’re not the bad guy. Because frankly, by allowing these behaviors to continue we are the bad guy.

   Passively ignoring intolerance allows it to continue. When we do that, we’re as guilty of intolerance as those who refuse to allow a transgender woman to have her hair styled in their salon, or a security guard stopping a young black man to ask why they’ve entering their building or calling someone a f slur because of how their dressed or the color of their hair. We ignore those things because ‘it’s none of our business, but it is, it is our business. It’s our business to address these intolerances as they happen. By ignoring the racist in the grocery line in front of you when they call the bagger ‘boy’, you’re enabling their behavior. You’re allowing it to continue. By keeping silent, you’re basically giving your permission to that racist to continue their unacceptable behavior.

   Make it your business. Make it your business to end intolerance by speaking out against it. Make it your business to calmly tell that man in the grocery store he’s out of line. We need to become a society that doesn’t wait for the news to report discrimination or for congress to address it. We need to become a society that addresses it on an individual basis. Let the bigots, racists, sexists, and gender-phobic stew in the shadows instead of the other way around. If we can establish a society that addresses this behavior whenever we see it, the behavior will stop. But even that isn’t enough, we need to move beyond simply individually speaking out. We need to make this a common practice in America, even in the business place.

   So, here’s my second point- corporations, no matter how big or small, privately or publicly owned need to take a stand. Corporations have guidelines for their employee’s code of conduct which promote intolerance of discrimination, but that’s not enough. Corporations, need to establish a practice of ‘firing’ customers who treats one of their employees with discrimination. Is that a scary concept for a business? Firing customers? Businesses already have this practice in place- doctor’s offices fire patients who no show to multiple appointments or cause a scene in their office over a large bill, Stores bar shoplifters, etc. So, this is not a new concept. Is it scary, yes it is, but by making that statement you’re standing up for the very reason our nation was created-- freedom. Freedom to be who we are, live how we choose, and to be free from oppression. We aren’t delivering on that promise in the US right now. Let’s make it our business to step up and say ‘I’m not a passive supporter of intolerance. No one should feel threatened because of their race, sex, gender preferences, or lifestyle choices. This is America and intolerance has to stop.’