Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Teaching intolerance: fill in the blanks

"I don't see how anyone could like _______, do you?" That’s one way it could start. There are lots of options. Context would reveal that I obviously don’t like whatever it is,...and also (here’s the kicker) that anyone with a different taste is somehow deficient. A nice little wall.
It’s probably only banter, a way of yanking someone’s chain maybe - but it doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
This seemingly harmless phrase is only a half step away from labelling, demeaning, exclusion or bullying. Kids on the playground know that much. You hear it when something someone likes is different. Different from the preferences of the antagonist, and usually at least, the perceived majority of others. Young wrestlers, soccer players, and even very talented musicians, artists, or thespians could receive their first  intimations that different preferences might not be “ok” with others this way. Liking what they like, or pursuing their gift might have social costs.
Did kids learn this exclusive behavior from their parents? Could it have it’s roots in evolutionary biology even?  Diversity of interests among us seems like a very good thing - as we talk about it, but do we really believe it? Or is it easier just to pull for homogeneity? After all, sometimes it seems “everybody is doing it.” Behaviors in societies become contagious - is this ‘difference hazing’ only a natural part of the necessary mechanism? Or is it something - like a cancer - that as it grows threatens the health of the whole?
Now, there are times when norms aren’t merely opinions. Sometimes the norm (and sometimes the exception) carries moral weight and involves either righteousness or wickedness, obedience or disobedience to the laws of God. Then it absolutely matters. Yet even in such weighty matters, the way such influence is asserted should be different. A young Joseph Smith mused “if [his friends] supposed me to be deluded” then they should “have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to have reclaimed me,” rather than the persecution he faced to his dying day.
I digress - it’s those things that don’t carry a moral weight that I speak of though. Paul taught of the diversity of gifts and roles in the Kingdom of God saying, “the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet.” Exclusion in these scenarios would be literally crippling. Is it any less crippling to our society when we practice (and model) such intolerance upon (or for) the rising generation?

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