Check out this one minute public service announcement I stumbled upon on the concept of tolerance:
Do you believe it? Or is it just another nice marketing ploy with diverse children conveniently plucked together?
Check out this one minute public service announcement I stumbled upon on the concept of tolerance:
Do you believe it? Or is it just another nice marketing ploy with diverse children conveniently plucked together?
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12 comments
I've never liked the word tolerance. Generally when we say that we can tolerate something, what we mean is "I don't totally hate it. I won't vomit if it comes within touching distance of me." We shouldn't tolerate others - we should welcome them, and be glad that they're in our lives. Some of the orgs. I've worked with talk about how, for e.g., homeless youth, or newly immigrated women, or people with mental health issues, have experiences and knowledge from which we can learn - esp. when we are trying to better understand how our social services (don't) work. Ie it's not just that we should tolerate others - we should welcome them, because we need them.
The word tolerance indicates a magnanimous gesture to allow someone who may or may not be lesser than you, to join your party. I definitely wouldn't want my kids to think of immigrants, people of colour, First Nations people, queer folks, poor folks or people with disabilities (etc...) as groups to be charitably tolerant of. It's about justice, not charity!
Also, similar to that Dove Onslaught ad, this ad totally individualises oppression. Yah sure, if your parents use racial slurs right left and centre you might not turn out to be the most open-minded person. But oppression generally lies in our systems more than anywhere else, and we might want to focus on system change before we challenge parents' behaviour.
I think it's interesting that this ad primarily uses kids of colour. Are the kids meant to be talking to their own parents? So in that case are they asking parents of colour to be more tolerant of people who are different from them ie white parents? The fact that this logical step has evaded the makers of the commercial makes me think the inclusion of kids of different backgrounds is more tokenistic than anything. Though it is always nice (and rare!) to see people of colour in the majority in ads.
Um, yah, but apart from that, this ad is ok... :)
Posted by Thea
May 13, 2008, 3:11 PM
Tolerance doesn't take away hate, it hides it.
Or something to that effect.
Nothing really bothers me more than the word tolerance. It's one of those misused words. I don't think that tolerance is what they meant. They wanted something like non-discriminatory, or welcoming like Thea said. I know this may be a bit of a graphic comparison, but tolerance is a bit like the little forest at the back of my school. It looks real nice and green but on the inside you'll find garbage, condom wrappers, and half-smoked joints.
The hate/dislike's still there, but you're just not showing it to everyone you know.
Posted by Brianne
May 13, 2008, 4:17 PM
Oh and yes, it's a pretty good ad otherwise.
Posted by Brianne
May 13, 2008, 4:18 PM
Thea, I think you said it just right about how this kind of thinking ignores systemic oppression. People can be "tolerated" by those in power but still not be allowed a voice, or given respect, or say, be paid equally.
Posted by TIINA
May 13, 2008, 9:16 PM
One definition: "sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own."
Remember the apocryphal quote often attributed to Voltaire stating "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"? That's tolerance right there. It's in part an acknowledgement that you can't possibly like or agree with everything out there, and that's fine so long as you respect the rights of others to express opinions or follow ideals contrary to your own.
I don't think of tolerance as "hiding hate." I think of it as being able to agree to disagree, which is absolutely vital to maintaining a functional society. It means we don't break into fisticuffs every time there's a minor disagreement. It means we can hold votes to decide political direction instead of killing one another until only one side remains. It means we acknowledge our differences, and even if we dislike some of the things that make us different—something I think is inevitable—we don't let them get in the way of treating others with due respect.
Posted by Wesley
May 13, 2008, 9:18 PM
I have to echo the above, I too dislike the word tolerance. I mean, acceptance isn't that much farther, why not go there? I also disliked the idea of it being solely a parent-child responsibility to combat "hate" and "hateful" words. I think that if a parent has "hate" they won't care if their kids hear that hate; they don't get it to begin with.
Posted by ohsweetie
May 13, 2008, 9:30 PM
I don't have those associations with the word tolerance, though I understand them. I usually think of Voltaire as well (get out of my head Wesley!).
When I see an ad like this, I think they are simply referring to tolerance as the opposite of intolerance. That is, instead of saying "don't teach your children to be intolerant bastards", they say "please be tolerant".
It's not my favourite PSA ever (and I doubt they're reaching their target audience) but to take the moderate position again, I err on being happy to see anti-hate ads running.
Posted by Catherine
May 13, 2008, 10:28 PM
I have been thinking about this over the last few days and I have to say I disagree with tolerance being viewed as a bad thing. I tolerate a lot of viewpoints that don't correspond with mine. I tolerate the pro-life movement, I tolerate Republicans, I tolerate women who believe their place is in the home. I tolerate a large number of cultural practices that I personally don't subscribe to or agree with, and I do so precisely for the reasons that Wesley stated above: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
There are lots of things I tolerate but will never support, believe or even sympathize with. I think progressives are too quick to assume that tolerance is reserved just for them, when really it works both ways.
Posted by Stacey May
May 14, 2008, 7:35 PM
Wesley and Stacey May:
It seems like you are assuming that you will automatically have ideological disagreements with people who have different skin colours. Aren't you making some assumptions, which are probably based on stereotypes?
What if an engineering department said, "We tolerate female students"?
Jessica:
There are many places in Toronto, usually schools, that have more racial diversity than in the video. The video itself is manufactured, but multiculturalism (or rather multi=races) is a reality.
Posted by Restructure!
May 15, 2008, 12:49 AM
Lots of great discussion going on here! It's important that we question and think critically, especially of course from the media's many hidden messages.
Restructure:
You raise an interesting point with multiculturalism and Toronto. Being a multiracial person myself, and having been born, raised, and living here in the city I know that supposed "multiculturalism" exists and for sure there is a diversity of races and ethnicities. However the PSA was shown nationally and that is part of the larger problem in Canada (even though the ad was for the US), which is the fact that outside Vancouver, Montreal, kinda sorta Edmonton, maybe Winnipeg a little, multiculturalism is hard to come by.
What is more, many people of colour living here in Toronto, (aka my own friends and family) have said they find Toronto quite racist and that we have a melting pot system going on here, whereas yes there might be many people represented from many different countries, but we segregate and don't actually take in their whole essence of being; their humanity.
As for "tolerance" that is the beauty of a democracy; it is made up of varying opinions.
Posted by Jessica
May 15, 2008, 9:25 AM
Restructure: Just as Jessica said you raise some good points, but I take issue with you assuming that by issuing their support of tolerance, Wesley and Stacey May are automatically disagreeing with someones viewpoint based on their skin colour. They were actually focusing on opinions or viewpoints themselves, and we must all remember that regardless of skin colour, viewpoints and opinions could either be quite similar or very different.
Posted by Meraydia
May 15, 2008, 1:39 PM
Meraydia:
No, I was not saying that they were automatically disagreeing with someone's viewpoint based on their skin colour. I was saying that just because somebody's skin colour is different from yours, it doesn't mean that you'll automatically have ideological disagreements.
I just found it strange to make the connection tolerance -> Voltaire in the context of race. How is racial diversity related to "agreeing to disagree"?
Jessica:
I just find it odd when people (not just you) point out ads, etc. that have people of different races and call it contrived, but people don't point out ads with only white people and call them racially contrived. If there is an advertisement with only white people, then it's considered "normal", but when it's racially diverse, then it's "political correctness".
Even if multiculturalism is hard to come by outside the big cities, it's not like racial diversity isn't real life for some people. It's as if multiculturalism-the-reality (versus multiculturalism-the-policy) is seen as less legitimate than monoculturalism.
Posted by Restructure!
May 15, 2008, 10:11 PM
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