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Tolerance - are you IN?




In grade school we were taught that tolerance was a virtue.  I kept thinking that it equated to surviving in India as a virtue.  After all merely growing up in a land where supply and demand where always out of whack, coupled with crushing and largely uneducated and crass humanity was a form of penance and therefore a sign of tolerance.  Beating the odds to do something drastic against the innumerable idiosyncrasies of life and finding the right path was equal parts tolerance and luck.

Look at me - virtuous me.

But what about those that were or are intolerant?  Well most examples in politics the world over are shining examples of intolerance.

My way or the highway.  Capitalism sometimes thrives on a level of intolerance using the calculus of profitability over moral good or social good.  Intolerance has become a way of life for all the commuters in the bay area it would appear.

The conundrum then is how is it my way for all commuters when there is only one highway?  Result is anarchy.  Gridlock and long long delays to get anywhere.  Reality in the bay for sure.

Then there is a whole level of intolerance I learned about  - only in America.  Well in reality its spreading worldwide.  Take for example Lactose Intolerance, Peanut Intolerance, GMO Intolerance and the list goes on.

People are taking a strong position against milk?   What happened to Adam Smith's invisible hand?  How is society as a whole going to benefit if the people keep taking the lactose out of milk?  Or the gluten out of wheat?

What happens with seas if you take the salt out?  I am salt intolerant.  Thusly I decree the oceans to be boiled so that I could swim in the condensate without salt.

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