Tolerance: between forbearance and acceptance

Tolerance: An Impossible Virtue?When the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dissolved, many hoped for a "new world order," an order distinguished by significant reduction in internecine bloodshed.It would be replaced by continued growth of democracy, mutual con cern, and respect for differences.So far, it has not worked out that way.In the for mer Yugoslavia, neighbors who once lived in peace, even intermarried-Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Kosovar Albanians, and Gypsies-are now at each other's throats.Northern Ireland remains bitterly divided between Protestants and Catholics, internal strife or mutual enmity marks several former Soviet republics, and large-scale massacres have taken place not only in Rwanda but elsewhere around the world.There is nothing new in this, only additional instances of con flict, strife, and hatred.Long before the Berlin Wall went up or came down, peo ple have found it difficult to live together peacefully, unless coerced into a false harmony to do so.Many things create deep divisions.Material interests, such as water rights or market access, can set people against each other.Cultural animosities sometimes serve as proxies for these.Demanding protection of a group's cultural heritage, for example, seems a less squalid reason for oppression than economic advantage.Be hind high-minded and sentiment-filled demands, we often find selfish interests.Those grasping for power have their own self-interested reasons for turning small differences, disquieting suspicions, and minor irritations into major confrontations.Still, although all animosities and strife have material consequences, not all have their roots in material concerns, greed, or narrow self-interest.Appeals to racial purity, linguistic superiority, cultural traditions, sacred places, and the sa cred history of the nation continue to create deep divisions.Nor are hostilities limited to race or religion or to distinct linguistic, cultural, and geographical groups.Any difference, it seems, can produce hatred between and among peoples.Hatreds sometimes arise largely, though never simply, because one group cannot stand what another feels, thinks, or does.Such bitter animosities may so blind 1