There is an old expression in French, that says that my liberty ends, where someone else's liberty begins.
And so as long as I am not infringing on somebody else's turf, then I object to their meddling in my life, behavior, culture, freedom, whatever. So it is difficult to deal with extremism because not content with living their own life, they define their mission as acting against values that are not their own. I have a real problem with people who's identity is not based on their core values, but defined against something. And this is very difficult to change, modify or influence from a tolerance point of view, because it transcends reasoning. Just living your own life is interpreted as a provocation/insult to them. And as these people immigrate into other cultures, they try to impose their narrow views on the culture of the majority. They have a real problem with diversity.
Between the acts of terrorism, be it the car bombs in the UK this week, the bombs in Spain, the rise of the Talibans in Pakistan, the negation of some scientific facts and theories like evolution, the granting of a knighthood or Booker prize to Salman Rushdie, or even something like budget allocations betweent the two Federal Institutes of Technology in Switzerland, where one school is on the media warpath because how much money the other school is receiving out of the budget increase, I am feeling aggressed. As we move from despotism, to democracy, to direct democracy, to direct economy to direct everything - anybody can say anything they want and publish it. But the tolerant, democratic, freedom respecting people are not out there communicating. The fringe is getting all the publicity, and the silent majority is, well, silent.
The only solution I can think of is for the media to give more air time, print space to reinforcing tolerance and freedom. More positive stories and less coverage of the extremes. It is one thing to inform about the news, another to go on and on about it and give those who transgress basic decent behavior the publicity they are seeking.
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