Too Much Tolerance?

[Lark_Truth]

The current liberal society of the USA is to tolerate the views and opinions of others. For instance: gays, transgenders, and various other things which I cannot name off of the top of my head. Of course, liberals don't seem to want to tolerate the new President Trump (I can't say that I blame them, but it is getting to be a little ridiculous).
So is there a limit to how much we should tolerate. Is a lot of tolerance too much? Are we in the USA tolerating to much?

[Sy Borg]

When I see people getting worked up about gays and transgenders when they clearly know nothing about it I think of Shakespeare's quote ""The lady doth protest too much, methinks". Replace "lady" with many of those with intense anti views. People are just people.

I personally think there's too much tolerance for billionaires and multinationals dodging tax. Why isn't Trump being compelled to be transparent about his financial affairs? Why has he not been required to properly separate himself from his business affairs? Imagine applying for a job where you are told there's a conflict of interest and you'll must to get rid of your business. You tell your prospective employer, "That's okay, I'll leave the business with my kids to mind while I'm doing the job. That way there will be no conflict". Now imagine the once-prospective employer's reaction.

We show much too much tolerance for the ultra-wealthy cheating us out of monies to pay for infrastructure, health and other government services. Instead people carry on about transgenders in bathrooms (who are presumably hoping to go into a bathroom where they don't risk being insulted and maybe beaten up).

[Steve3007]

OP:

The current liberal society of the USA is to tolerate the views and opinions of others. For instance: gays, transgenders, and various other things which I cannot name off of the top of my head.

You seem to conflate here the tolerance of the views of others - i.e. freedom of speech - with the tolerance of actions. I presume that when you talk about tolerating gay people you are talking about tolerating their actions, not just people's views about them?

The US famously has a tradition, enshrined in the 1st amendment to the US Constitution, of tolerating freedom of speech to a much greater extent than many other western Democracies. Australia and the UK, for example, do not have this right to freedom of speech so explicitly written into their Constitutions (the UK doesn't actually have a formal written Constitution).

Certainly many people exercise their right to freedom of speech in criticising, or as you put it not tolerating, president Trump, as people have with previous presidents. Isn't that an essential part of a democracy? Holding the government to account?

Regarding the separate issue of tolerating actions, obviously that is not written into the US constitution as an absolute right. The general principle followed by the founding fathers on that subject is that we tolerate actions that do not harm others. The argument then leads to questions like:

What actions harm others?
What constitutes "harm"?
To what extent should we allow self-harm?

etc.

[Fooloso4]

Lark_Truth:

So is there a limit to how much we should tolerate. Is a lot of tolerance too much? Are we in the USA tolerating to much?

Too much tolerance of who or what? Lactose? Mormons? “Pro-life” activists?

[Nick_A]

The current liberal society of the USA is to tolerate the views and opinions of others. For instance: gays, transgenders, and various other things which I cannot name off of the top of my head. Of course, liberals don't seem to want to tolerate the new President Trump (I can't say that I blame them, but it is getting to be a little ridiculous).
So is there a limit to how much we should tolerate. Is a lot of tolerance too much? Are we in the USA tolerating to much?

The problem isn't too much tolerance. Rather it is the collective lack of humility and the aspiration to become human.

[Dolphin42]

I can definitely say, hand on heart, that I do not aspire to become human.

[Lark_Truth]

Is there such thing as too much tolerance of anything?
Tolerating either to much liberalism or conservatism?
Tolerating dictatorships that mistreat its people?
Tolerating people giving to much or not enough support to those of different mindsets than themselves?
Tolerating the existence of terrorists?
Tolerating bad politicians?
Tolerating the declining standards and morality of the new generations (though that has been going on for a long while)?
The list could include just about everything.
Is there such a thing as too much tolerance?

[Sy Borg]

Some parts of the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy and probably our galactic cluster are too extreme to be habitable. Balance and stability - the middle ground - would appear to be where the most rich, ordered and complex phenomena occur.

Too much tolerance and society will fail to deal effectively with the (metaphorical) predators and parasites within its ranks that weaken society as a whole.

Too little tolerance and the collateral damage to benign citizens through overzealous control of rogue elements is such that it weakens the society as a whole.

If a society wants to remain competitive in a hot global market then achieving a suitable balance in human rights will help their cause.

Edit: typo

[Nick_A]

I can definitely say, hand on heart, that I do not aspire to become human.

At least you are honest. Most would probably claim they do want to become human. Your sincerity is admirable.

[Alias]

The current liberal society of the USA is to tolerate the views and opinions of others.

I'm not sure i understand what you mean by 'tolerance'. Accepting that other people disagree with us is fairly basic societal survival.
Without that tolerance, people would be fighting all the time to the detriment of getting any work done. An intolerant government is repressive, tends to stifle creativity and enterprise, as well as academic freedom and the dissemination of information. Such a society will stagnate very quickly and suffocate on its fear.

For instance: gays, transgenders, and various other things which I cannot name off of the top of my head.

What about them? Are they intruding on your life in any way? If you can't think of them off the top of your head, they can't be occupying very much of your consciousness, either.
So, what is it about them that you are asked to tolerate? Their existence? Their right to be different from you? It costs you nothing that those people you are never requires to meet are not persecuted; to persecute them publicly would cost you something in taxes and social strife. Society benefits from diversity.

Of course, liberals don't seem to want to tolerate the new President Trump

They tolerated him all too much through the decades that he was bilking employees, tenants, contractors and the government; not to mention his atrocious social behaviour.
Even if a one of those transgendered 'males' use the women's dressing-room, you know they're not there to grab someone's genitals.
All of Trump's mean, disinformed and downright crazy opinions were tolerated - though not approved; no liberal tried to shut him down.
Actions are viewed differently from opinions; job performance comes under a different category from private life.

Presidents can do quite a lot more harm, and cost quite a lot more money, than individuals, whether they are acting within or outside the law.
The overt acts of a head of state, who wields that much power, are not in the same category as a transaction between to citizens.

[Dolphin42]

Nick_A:

At least you are honest. Most would probably claim they do want to become human. Your sincerity is admirable.

Really?!? Most humans claim that they want to become human? What a strange species.

[Lark_Truth]

Amen, Dolphin42, amen.
Humans can only take so much tolerance before they begin to rebel against it. Take for instance the events just before the American Revolution. The Americans started to really dislike the acts and the taxes that the British placed upon them, and then soon enough, they went to war against the greatest superpower in the world. Could there be some things like that in today's society where people are starting to fight back against what they dislike?

[Dolphin42]

Amen, Dolphin42, amen.

I'm not sure what you're saying amen to. Are you agreeing with me that it would be strange for a human to want to become human (for the obvious reason that they are already human)?

-- Updated March 7th, 2017, 4:46 pm to add the following --

Could there be some things like that in today's society where people are starting to fight back against what they dislike?

Rather than skirting around this subject, wouldn't it be easier to simply state that you think our society is too tolerant of homosexuality and leave it at that? That is essentially what you want to say, yes?

[Lark_Truth]

If it was only society's tolerance of homosexuality, then I would state that. I see more to society's tolerance then that. Fornication on TV for instance, not because of public demand, but because of producer desire.

-- Updated March 7th, 2017, 11:55 am to add the following --

Just to add, pornography is one of the top ten industries in the US, and there is still a lot of cyberbullying and the child sex-slave trade going on. There is a lot that society - in my opinion - is being to tolerant about.

[Dolphin42]

OK. So you believe that there are various things, mostly connected with sex, of which society is too tolerant. I'd say the best thing is just to list them.