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Thread on the idea of Repressive Tolerance.
Herbert Marcuse wrote an essay in 1965, defining the idea. It is just another form of blasphemy, but it is more proactive. IMO it is one of the most harmful ideas of the last 60 years and has become ubiquitous.
https://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEEMarcuseToleranceTable.pdf
Herbert Marcuse wrote an essay in 1965, defining the idea. It is just another form of blasphemy, but it is more proactive. IMO it is one of the most harmful ideas of the last 60 years and has become ubiquitous.
https://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEEMarcuseToleranceTable.pdf
If you don't want to read the essay or want to get more of an understanding, read this by
@ConceptualJames https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-tolerance/
@ConceptualJames https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-tolerance/
The idea of Repressive Tolerance basically is that it is okay to repress anything oppressive to marginalized people. As well, it is not enough to give marginalized people a voice but you must repress anything that may harm them.
They also play with harm so that offence = harm.
They also play with harm so that offence = harm.
This came into the academy in the 80s and filtered into schools. In education, it was in the way teachers are trained not so much in the curriculum.
The idea spread to wider society. The first PC craziness was partially due to this. The changing of language to cause less harm.
The idea spread to wider society. The first PC craziness was partially due to this. The changing of language to cause less harm.
RT is not a new idea; it is just another form of blasphemy law. It is similar to Puritan/Calvinistic ideas about sin. Sin has to be rooted out, repressed and discriminated against.
You have similar ideas in Islam, fitna, causing unrest in society. Islam also talks of those who
You have similar ideas in Islam, fitna, causing unrest in society. Islam also talks of those who
corruption in the land, you can kill them.
In the last ~18 months, Catholic groups in Poland and in Tennessee burned Harry Potter books because they lead children astray. Recently it is the Woke because Rowling is transphobic, and is causing harm to the trans community.
In the last ~18 months, Catholic groups in Poland and in Tennessee burned Harry Potter books because they lead children astray. Recently it is the Woke because Rowling is transphobic, and is causing harm to the trans community.
ISIS destroyed some of the ruins at Palmyra because theses ancient ruins could cause people to stray from Islam. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/09/150901-isis-destruction-looting-ancient-sites-iraq-syria-archaeology/
The Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas for the same reason.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-11/they-were-destroyed-taliban-now-giant-buddha-statues-bamiyan-have-returned-3-d#:~:text=The%20historic%20Buddhas%20of%20Bamiyan,valley%20as%203D%20light%20projections.&text=They%20were%20once%20the%20world's,apart%20and%20left%20in%20rubble.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-11/they-were-destroyed-taliban-now-giant-buddha-statues-bamiyan-have-returned-3-d#:~:text=The%20historic%20Buddhas%20of%20Bamiyan,valley%20as%203D%20light%20projections.&text=They%20were%20once%20the%20world's,apart%20and%20left%20in%20rubble.
This past Summer, statues were torn down in the US, UK, and Canada because they were offensive to some and might offend/cause harm. Same thinking https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/us/confederate-statues-photos.html
In the wake of the Me Too movement, The Manchester Art Gallery decides to cover up some nudes least they offend, after an outcry, they said they wanted to start a conversation, apparently, you need to hide the things you're going to discuss. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/06/takedown-waterhouse-naked-nymphs-art-action-manchester-art-gallery-sonia-boyce
2016, Italian officials decide to cover up nude statues because of a visit from the Iranian president, because they didn't want to offend his Islamic sensibilities. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-covers-naked-statues-iran-president-hassan-rouhani-visit-nude-a6834836.html
Last year The Saatchi Gallery covered up a painting because the artist was afraid of causing offence after someone complained. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/05/saatchi-covers-up-artworks-after-complaints-by-muslim-visitors
Sky News cuts off a guest, from Charlie Hebdo, because she wanted to show the cartoons which got 12 people killed. The artists were killed because they caused offence and Sky News did not want to cause offence. https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/01/video-sky-news-cuts-off-guest-for-showing-charlie-hebdo-cover-201080
This is a video that a student from UVA posted when asked white students to leave because they were making students of colour feel unsafe.
You can use RT to discriminate against those in power or that which upholds power structures. $2 billion of damage was done due to riots this year, and we have been told that property is Whiteness, which is violence, so it is okay to destroy it, and this is not violence.
This is a book to teach kids how to be anti-racist, the focuses on being anti-whiteness. It tells kids that whiteness is bad. If this upsets white kids that's okay because they are in power. https://www.amazon.ca/Not-My-Idea-About-Whiteness/dp/1948340003/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=whiteness+kids&qid=1602277966&sr=8-6
Rihanna apologized to Muslims and the Woke for blasphemy and cultural appropriation because she dared to use a Hadith in a song. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/rihanna-apologizes-muslim-community-1.5753356
Last November and December, "serious" people were upset that Honk Kong might get Democracy because that would be another form of colonialism. The NYT just published an op-ed saying the same thing. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/opinion/hong-kong-china-security-law.html?s=09#click=https://t.co/wu5rCMutr6
We need to get away from the idea that ideas that cause harm need to be repressed. Censorship, for any reason, causes far more harm to society and those at the margins of it than any idea which some find offensive.
I'll close with this thread from @glukianoff that compares culture of free speech to one of RT. Read the article in the first tweet of the thread. https://twitter.com/glukianoff/status/1290691291777507328
