The Price of Extremism

Every time I watch a movie about Northern Ireland, the civil war in Yugoslavia, the genocide in Rwanda -- not the mention the news about more current events -- I am reminded of the cost associated with the extreme absurd result of intolerance amongst the peoples of a nation.

This, I think, is why I have chosen to reject the most extreme religious and political movements in our country today ... the essence of what they believe is irrelevant, even if in some cases it happens to be more compatible with my own beliefs with those of the opposition, because they are willing to trample on the "wrong" beliefs of others.

Sure, it feels good to rail against people with beliefs opposed to your own, to demonize and villify them, and there is so much more of that in our society than there has ever been before. Incivility and intolerance have become commonplace among the leaders of some our nation's factions. I recently read a news story about an event in which a state official publicly referred to the President of the United States as "a Chicago thug." Disgusting. It is a sign of how far that we have slipped that a roomfull of of middle-aged women applauded that comment rather than being revolted by it.

And, if you really believe in something then you might believe that doing anything to achieve the ends associated with it is a good thing ... It's not. Not in a country like ours; this is the crux of disaster, this sense of moral right. Whatever else you believe America is about, it's about tolerance, and accepting that other people have a right to live as they choose ... even if you don't like it. The consequences of intolerance are only worse.