What is tolerance? I think it depends on the person. Some will be of the opinion that tolerance is: "a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own b : the act of allowing something : toleration" (click here for source). However, many today don't believe that tolerance is something that as "the act of allowing something". Some take tolerance to mean something to the effect of, "I'll let it slide as long as it doesn't offend me. If it offends me, I will not allow it to happen and I will do everything in my power to stop that from happening."
But, if you look at the definition above, it doesn't mention anything about taking offence. In fact, it uses words like "differing from" and "conflicting with one's own" when describing the beliefs in question. Some forget that we have here in the United States many different freedoms (religion, press, speech, etc.)
However, the freedom from offence (meaning that I have a right to NOT be offended) is never enumerated in the Constitution of the United States, as well as it shouldn't. How in the world would you have freedom of speech in a country that wouldn't allow people to be offended at something? Answer, you couldn't.
There are many polarizing issues facing the country today, and it seems to me that there isn't much tolerance going on. What I mean by that is the fact that if you lose the argument, you deal with it, or letter b above: "the act of allowing something". I didn't really want to have Barack Obama become POTUS. However, I know that he won, and I'm tolerating it. I don't like it, but I am tolerating it. There are some laws that I "tolerate" as well. I'm not a fan of income tax, but I tolerate it (or any taxes, for that matter). There is one law that I don't really like tolerating, but I am just the same, and that is abortion.
In Texas, lawmakers have been trying to make abortions past 20 weeks illegal. As expected, it's a pretty polarizing issue. After a Texas lawmaker filibustered the bill for some 11 hours, the body voted on the bill and it did receive the majority vote. However, because the vote took place after midnight, it was outside of the congressional session, it was not a valid vote. So, Governor Rick Perry called for a special session of congress, in order for congress to have an official vote on the bill.
This has drawn all sorts of demonstrations on both sides of the issue. However, the two groups have some majorly different approaches to demonstrate their points of view. Below is a video showing the demonstrations occurring. The pro-life group that doesn't want abortions after 20 weeks was singing "Amazing Grace" while the pro-choice group was chanting "Hail Satan". The pro-choice group was also heard chanting "Mary should have had an abortion" (you know, Mary, the mother of Jesus).
Here's a link to the full story (WARNING: there are pictures of some of the protesters signs in the article that some may find offensive).
Pretty chilling, right? I think this video shows something that is important to realize. Besides the fact that it shows how divided our country really is, but it also shows how people can't tolerate opposing views.
Perhaps in another post I will comment on the lunacy that it is that we are arguing about having an abortion after 20 weeks (which is when you can pretty much definitively tell whether your baby is a boy or a girl, can find and measure all of the major organs of the body and such).
Just because we are tolerating a view does not mean that we don't have the right to express opposition of those views that we are tolerating. Indeed, both sides in the video above have every right to express their points of view. However, tolerance means we don't get nasty when we are expressing our points of view.
Tolerance is a word that has been a word that has been twisted to try to help make some sort of political point. Let's look at the true examples of tolerance that have helped make things move forward: Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. These men opposed the system, but they did it with peace, tolerance, and love.
"Pretty chilling" ... Not so much. There is nothing chilling about this. You have to consider this particular debate. (**Disclaimer** This is what I've observed) The ProLife side uses religion as their backing, and the ProChoice side uses secular reasoning. They are chanting 'hail satan' to be in direct opposition to the other side singing 'Amazing Grace.' It's kind of funny because the ProChoice thinks the concept of god and satan to be archaic, and it really rustles the feathers of the ProLifers, who tell the ProChoices they will go to hell. And the 20 weeks thing is not arbitrary. Regardless of gender and identifying major organs, it's brain development that is the important thing. At the heart of this argument dwells an old religious debate, and both sides use it as a tool. I think it's important to understand the nature of each argument in order to properly express opposition and to be truly tolerant.
ReplyDeleteI'm chilled by the fact that they are chanting "Hail Satan" on a religious level, but it's more chilling to me that there is so much division. I know that the "Hail Satan" thing was just to poke the pro-religion people in the eye.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do know of some atheists that are still against abortion. I do think that the brain is fairly well developed at 20 weeks (some studies show that the brain feels pain at that point). I don't know if the abortion debate for me is religious. I guess it depends on what the definition of "life" is.
After all, was what Kermit Gosnell doing murder? The jury thought so. What's the moral difference between 23 weeks in the womb, and 21 weeks outside the womb? To me it's a slippery slope, and I also feel that while the rights of the woman should be protected, who is protecting the rights of the baby?
To me, 20 weeks is a long time to wait to have an abortion (after all, that's halfway through the pregnancy). According to the Mayo Clinic, the baby has a peripheral nervous system at 5 weeks, with the majority of it being complete at 27 weeks. I would presume that there would have to be some sort of mental ability to translate and interpret the signals coming from that nervous system.
Whether you call it a brain at 5 weeks, at 27, the only major thing that your nervous system still needs to develop is controlling body temperature (which babies have a hard time doing when carried to full term anyways).
You are correct in that the viewpoints are centered around the debate of when and what would be considered a human life. If a human life starts at conception, then it is murder; if this, then that, right?
ReplyDeleteBut, it is nowhere near that simple. One of the major problems with the debate, and the cause, I believe, for the division on the issue, is the 'if this, then that' mentality. If the woman gets pregnant, then she has to have the baby. If the pregnant woman has an abortion, then she is a murderer. The ProLife side calling the ProChoice side murderers is not helping the debate either.
You may think that I'm picking on the ProLife side; I am. I am ProChoice, because you have to pick a label. I absolutely believe that a woman has the right to choose and is capable of doing so, but I also believe that there is a point by when the choice needs to be made. Late term abortions are horrifying to think about, and Kermit Gosnell murdered newborns that were born alive. Those fall out of the debate, I think. I remember reading that when it first came out in the news. *shudders*
But, there has to be a defined point at which a fetus becomes protected, to even say that it has rights. And that precedent, as far as I'm aware, cannot be set until the issue is settled - until both sides can sit down and discuss this with cool heads. It's sad that this issue seems to only come out as a political tool - a rallying cry for those of like opinions.
I think you meant 5 months on that last paragraph. Developmentally, 7 weeks can make a huge difference. And I wasn't saying that it wasn't a brain at 20, I was saying it's still developing.
No, I meant 5 weeks. Here's the link to the Mayo Clinic website (See Week 5, paragraph 2): http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prenatal-care/PR00112
ReplyDeleteHowever, at looking at it, I noticed that it's not the peripheral nervous system per se, but is the ectoderm. My mistake. However, the ectoderm does form the neural tube (which contains the spinal cord) and that closes by the end of the 6th week. And by the end of the 18th week, the baby can actually hear (which would mean the nerves and brain are developed sufficiently to feel).
I don't know whether the development of the brain really matters... Technically, as we learn things, isn't the brain still developing? Forming new wrinkles and neural connections and such to remember the things we've learned? And where does that put people that have mental handicaps?
The point of the post though was really about the divisiveness of country and the lack of tolerance it's going through.