I think the word tolerance is one of the most used words of nowadays. But why for many people it has received a bad and negative meaning or subtext?
The movement of being tolerant has started a long while ago. At first many people didn’t properly understand it, what it actually meant, what they should do etc. Then started to understand and accept that. But the more it goes, the more people are being sick of it (an important remark: not sick from different nations, genders or orientations, but from the pseudo-tolerance itself). I really love studying people and their mentality. The best and easiest way to do it is reading comments. Yes, simple comments in various media platforms can help you understand people, how and what they think. And recently I’ve been noticing a lot, that people are already tired of this fake tolerance. Why fake? Because it is. It was initially created to give everyone, every single person the right to do and say what they want and not be judged for that. Be seen not as a person of this religion or nationality etc, but as an individual. To be free as who they are. And I truly think it’s great. All these fake criteria have been created to separate us even further, and tolerance was a very good way to destroy all these walls. But as you may see, these walls still stand strong. So why is it so?
It’s because the tolerance started to be used as a one-sided mechanism. And perhaphs even it is being used now to spread more hatred among us. People are now afraid to state their opinions, especially celebrities or other famous people and I’m really sorry for them, because they often don’t get to share their honest opinions, they’re kind of locked in a cage, where every their word is pre-planned and they can’t say anything else. Because one wrong word or even syllable, and that’s it, people will be “canceling” them. As if the celebrities don’t have the right to think differently than the majority. People have become too vulnerable and easily offended. They treat everyone as an enemy and every word or even intonation as an offense. While in reality, most people don’t even mean what they say. Our brains now work non-stop, we may all be absentminded and say one thing and and mean completely sth else.
Here I should state, that I don’t mean all the violence that is against different groups of people. Any kind of violence to any kind of a person (or even animals and nature) for me is bad and unacceptable. And it is really ridiculous, how normal people measure their every word in order not to even slightly offend anyone, but someone else will just kill a person just because they’re of a different orientation or nationality. Those people should and must be punished, but not the ones who may just state their opinion in their own personal social media page or among friends.
I think the problem is with the word “tolerance” itself. What does it mean to tolerate something? It means that you may hate someone or something, that you think the worst about them, but for some reason you have to tolerate it. Do you notice its negative connotation? Because in reality you know that you aren’t okay with this situation or this person, and you can’t control your feelings and hold yourself back forever, and one day you can just explode. But what if we changed the word tolerance for acceptance? Isn’t it a better, more positive word? If someone said to you “I accept you“, wouldn’t it sound a hundred times better rather than “I tolerate you“? I think it does. Acceptance is the best answer. I may not understand something, I may not like it or want it, I may think that for me personally this is bad. But I accept it. I accept you. Because it’s your life, your choices, it doesn’t have to bother me. When we have a “strange” friend or relative, whom we don’t always understand, who has other worldview and opinions, we don’t think that we somehow tolerate them right? We just accept that person with all their pros and cons. Now imagine the same in a bigger scale.
You can’t change the world and all this madness with a simple replacement of one word. But that one word somehow changes our attitude and perspective and can become a start to a new, better and more positive movement. See another example. When I think about tolerating someone else, it kind of creates the feeling of me being superior to this person, doesn’t it? That I’m the bigger person here, tolerating your bad side. And this already wrecks up everything. But when I think about accepting you, it creates the feeling of us being equals, standing on the same level, the same ground. It means that we both have our differences, but that doesn’t make one of us better or worse. It means justice, balance, fairness. I accept you, you accept me. And that’s it. Hopefully one day we’ll reach to this on a global level.
annmary0723 
How well written. I love your thought on replacing tolerance with acceptance. That’s so thoughtful and sounds positive.
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yeah, it instantly creates a more positive attitude and environment, doesn’t it? thanks a lot! ☺️
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Oh yes, absolutely! You are welcome 🙂
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Ok so you are happy that violence is wrong, but when you say celebrities or people in general should be able to state their true thoughts or feelings, what if their opinions are harmful? What if they are racist or homophobic or encourage discrimination?
I agree that sometimes things can be taken too far and celebrities are much more heavily scrutinised but I think any person should be help accountable when they are doing or saying something actually bad and harmful.
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I agree that if a celebrity’s attitude towards a certain group of people is aggressive, it’d be absolutely wrong for them to encourage their fans (who sometimes will do anything their idol says) to spread that aggression and negativity, so in that case perhaps silence would be the best solution? I think those people, who have a bad attitude about sth or someone already try to not to talk about it, at least publicly, because they understand the consequences of that,,but in smaller cases, like I remember a blogger (don’t remember her name) being “canceled” just because in one of her videos or interviews she said that she really loved eating meat, and it hurt the feeling of all the vegans and vegetarians, while she didn’t say anything bad about them,, I’m talking about personal choices and attitudes like this, not a spread of hatred and hostility which is again completely wrong. Thanks a lot for your comment, it made me rethink my writing on a deeper level ♥️
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Ah ok yes then I agree with you, I just wanted to understand more fully where you were coming from. You shouldn’t have to hide your everyday life for fear of upsetting someone.
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yeah that’s what I meant! It’s ridiculous how people are afraid to tell something now,, like another example, a celebrity (again don’t remember who) dyed her hair from blonde to brunette and made a whole post talking about how there’s nothing wrong to be a blonde and that she doesn’t have anything against them 😂 thanks again for making me be more clear about what I meant originally, I don’t want to be misunderstood ♥️😇
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I mean it might just be me I am an over thinker and I didn’t want to join the conversation coming from a place of misunderstanding so best thing to do was ask. Oh gosh really, it’s amazing what people will kick off about.
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Actual topic. Tolerance of the human immune system leads to the destruction of its own organism, because it perceives “strangers” as its own. Tolerance of society leads to the destruction, first of all, of morality and human values. And yes, she must change the word I Accept! ❤👍
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if things go like this, the pseudo-tolerance indeed can cause many troubles and problems,, I hope people will understand what’s a real tolerance and what’s not, and will learn to accept, rather than tolerate this world, everything and everyone ♥️🙏🏻
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Tolerance is peaceful way of living.
Sending positive vibes 🙂
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initially yes, but for many people it has created misunderstandings and even more tension and hatred, which is wrong, tolerance should have been and stayed a positive and as you said a peaceful thing,, thanks for you comment! 😇
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Sometimes we have to tolerate
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see, that’s the problem we think that we “have to tolerate”, not that we want to, I think the problem comes from here
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Yeah sure ,but sometimes we don’t have any option. It’s easy to say but taugh to maintain. Thank you very much 😊❤️🌹💐
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that’s true, it is always easier to say than to act. thanks for your comment ♥️
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❤️👌😊🤗❣️
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Due to pressure of reality.
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Words do change meanings over the centuries based on how they are used and new words appear to account for nuances. The word “discriminate” used to be a more neutral word but was overpowered by accurate usages that described hateful practices.
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I absolutely agree! words do have power, that’s why people say don’t use negative words, always try to substitute them with if not positive, than at least neutral ones. thanks a lot!
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Wow that’s meaningful, I’m not just accepting it but agreeing with you on this. And can you explain again, what do you mean by fake tolerance bicoz I don’t get that part.
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thanks a lot for your words! I call it fake, or pseudo-tolerance, because there are so many people out there, who don’t get the equality and freedom that they were initially supposed to get, because this pseudo-tolerance works only one-sided, it doesn’t give equality and fair attitude to every single person, it only gives, or seems to give it to a certain group of people, ignoring others,, that’s why it can never be a genuine, unless it actually gives the proper justice and equality to everyone
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Now I get it, and can u tell me how you end up writing about it, bicoz I never perceive tolerance like that, soo
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well haha I don’t know really. as I said I like studying people and what’s happening in the world, and I constantly see injustices like that, in different aspects of life,, plus I’m from a small country, and I almost never saw that tolerance towards us, or many other small and “unimportant” countries like mine
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I can understand, I have seen that fake thing here, although my country has masses but still tolerance persist here,
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It’s a great post! I like the way you’ve materialized the term “Tolerance” and its significance and impact towards an individual life! Also it has been well said that it needs to be accepted not just because “we have to” but “we should” since, it seems like doing something forcefully produces the bad vibes and the tolerance turns into negativity! It’s definitely a term which should have its own identity at individual level to cope up with life! Not sure, if you’ve checked but I also do have a post called “How to Improve or Increase the Tolerance Level” it contains how we can overcome through the situation wherein tolerance takes place! Your piece was excellent to read! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
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thanks so much for your comment, I really appreciate it! yes, that’s what I mean, the feeling of sth mandatory already creates negative atmosphere, and tolerance shouldn’t have been about that,, I’ll definitely check out your post, it’s interesting to read your opinion on this important topic! 😇
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I wish headline-writers and copywriters would use “compassion” or “empathy” in lieu of “tolerance.” When members of the media overuse a word like “tolerance”, the intolerant and apathetic use it as a weapon to oppress and subjugate.
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that’s what I feel sometimes too, that when people overuse it especially on media, they kind of use it as a weapon instead of actually being and feeling tolerant. thanks for your comment!😇
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agree. in the concept itself there is already some kind of flaw, if you think a little. also wrote about it.
although the idea seems to be great.
and this idea has been severely discredited, using it dishonestly in politics and public life.
I am also worried about this topic. similarly wrote about her: https://1ubit.me/2020/05/30/про-толерантность-about-tolerance/
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yeah it’s one of those delicate and a little controversial topics to talk and write about, because sometimes people can’t fully understand what you mean, and your own words can turn against you. thanks a lot for you comment! I’ll definitely your post too, it’s interesting to know your point of view!♥️😇
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😊
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just to add a little spice, tolerance is different from condone. Tolerate in the sense that I do not invade your space with how I want you to talk or act. Someone mentioning eating meat offends anyone is an act of attention and sings a poor is me song. We as human are too busy trying to lock up every humans mind! I’m liberated!
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I agree with that part of tolerance-not invading in people’s space. But I doubt that it works fairly for everyone, because now almost everyone is afraid to even make a harmless joke as it may offend the feelings of a certain person or a group. people are afraid to tell their real opinions, to discuss something freely or even do something, and that’s sadly far from tolerance
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Yes it is! That’s why I am liberated. I am a poet and writer. My passion is to express myself and knowing how without being offensive. I am the change I want to see. I appreciate your engagement and you bringing light to such a delicate subject!
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that’s really great! our world definitely needs more liberated people like you! thanks a lot for your comment! 😄
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💙🌼🙏
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Perspective is a powerful thing. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and the encouragement for moving towards wholeness as a society and works.
I pray you go well into this coming weekend. 😊
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thanks so much! have a good day😄
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