Tolerant - how is it? What is hiding today behind this concept, so often used in modern rhetoric? Most often, it is associated with ethno-political problems and multiculturalism. Without rejecting the significance of these problems, it should be noted that the term covers much broader phenomena.
Biological tolerance
Initially, this concept was used by biologists to denote the corresponding properties of living organisms. Translated from Latin, “tolerate” means the processes of patience and addiction. Biologists have called the ability of the immune system to adapt to antigens. That is, if the body is immune-tolerant, this means that for some reason (impossibility or lack of need) it does not reproduce antibodies to the antigens that have got into it. And it is important to note that this phenomenon is not always negative. For example, the process of fetal development in the mother does not cause rejection. Which, of course, is a fundamentally important characteristic of life. Ecologists also use this concept, in the understanding of which they are tolerant - this is when the body is able to perceive and survive in a fairly wide range of climatic conditions. Useful property, isn't it?
Tolerance in human societies
And here the concept can be used in completely different planes. Tolerant behavior (or not tolerant) can be towards women, people with disabilities, sexual minorities and other social categories. Same
an example of
public attitudes towards people of non-traditional sexual orientation is today, perhaps, no less discussed in Russia. Our society is often compared with the European one, where it is much easier to find an example of tolerant behavior in this area. Nevertheless, the most significant problem of tolerance is the relationship between representatives of different human civilizations.
The collapse of multiculturalism was openly announced by the first politicians of the developed countries of Western Europe. A number of its regions in recent years are increasingly subject to nationalist trends. And the reader himself is well acquainted with Russian realities. Here the definition of "tolerant" is often an abusive word. However, it is important to remember that tolerance for members of a different culture or race does not mean automatic submission to inappropriate acts on the part of national minorities. It often happens that migrants brought up in a different system of values and social relations carry it with them to a new country for themselves. Of course, tolerance cannot extend to behavior or actions that are openly contrary to local standards - such as the requirement of a polls
wearing hijabs by women or lezginka in public.
These problems should not be solved at all by closing borders, because globalization is an objectively progressive phenomenon and will sweep away any obstacles in its path. And even more so not the destruction of foreigners. Problems can only be solved by educating these peoples, cultivating the spirit of tolerance in them, as opposed to religious fanaticism and complexes of small nationalities. First of all, third world states should be drawn into the processes of adequate economic and social development. Only after the formation of responsible civil societies there, having overcome their own fanaticism and the desire for self-assertion at the expense of others, will the trump arguments be knocked out of the hands of modern ultra-right.