[WOODPIE]

Compliments to CamB for starting a thread with less flame-bait.

Would the world be a better place if everyone tried to be more tolerant? (And, I'm assuming, had some success...) It could be, in some points of view, better. It would be a lot filthier, though.

I take the opposing view. People are inherently bad. The reason this world runs along as well as it (arguably) does is due to vast, and sometimes incomprehensible, amounts of intolerance.

Intolerance is what makes people behave. A parent won't tolerate a rude child. A society won't tolerate a lawbreaking citizen. A nation of liberty will not kneel in supplication to an aggressor.

Now, personally, I think I am a pretty tolerant person. But even my high tolerance rises up to incredible heights as long as I don't have to look at it, hear about it, read about it, feel it, smell it, or taste it in my food. Given that amount of distance, tolerance begets ignorance, and ignorance can be pretty evil.

Just my opinion...

Ed

Jeez, can I totally kill a thread, or what?