Intolerance

For other uses, see Intolerance (disambiguation).

THE FACE OF INTOLERANCE

Intolerance is the lack of ability or willingness to tolerate something.

• In pressed through angry argumentation, looking down at people because of their characteristics or viewpoints, negatively portraying something due the contrast with one's own beliefs, etc. On a more extreme level, it can lead to violence - in its most severe form, genocide. Possibly the most infamous example in Western culture is the Holocaust. Colonialism was based, in part, on a lack of tolerance of cultures different than that of the mother country.
• There is debate as to where a government can use its force to prevent what it defines as hate speech. For example, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution allows such expression of intolerance without criminal action. In some other countries people can be prosecuted for such speech. This is a question of how much intolerance the government should tolerate, and how it decides what constitutes the expression of hate.

As the debate as to what to do about other people's intolerance continues, what is often ignored is how to recognize and deal with one's own.

See also

• Allport's scale
• Discrimination
• Prejudice
• Toleration