on tolerance
1:52 am! Still awake, and reading some stuff for Philosophy. Came across this. Something I've often thought about but have never read so nakedly spelled out:
From these three definitions - enduring, licensing, and indulging - we may deduce that tolerance entails suffering something one would rather not suffer; yet being socially positioned such that one has the power to determine whether and how to suffer that thing and precisely what one will allow from it. Both normative power and authority are presuppositions of tolerance; indeed, it makes little sense to speak of a subordinate "tolerating" those who rule or dominate. It is this positioning, power, and authority that make it possible the third dimension of tolerance listed above - a posture of indulgence toward what one permits or licenses, a posture that softens or cloaks the power, authority, and normativity in the act of tolerance. Tolerance is thus an act of power that inherently entails this softening disguise, this "catholicity of spirit." Magnanimity is a luxury of power but in the case of tolerance, also disguises power.
-- Wendy Brown, excerpt from the essay, 'Reflections on Tolerance in the Age of Identity' (2001)
From these three definitions - enduring, licensing, and indulging - we may deduce that tolerance entails suffering something one would rather not suffer; yet being socially positioned such that one has the power to determine whether and how to suffer that thing and precisely what one will allow from it. Both normative power and authority are presuppositions of tolerance; indeed, it makes little sense to speak of a subordinate "tolerating" those who rule or dominate. It is this positioning, power, and authority that make it possible the third dimension of tolerance listed above - a posture of indulgence toward what one permits or licenses, a posture that softens or cloaks the power, authority, and normativity in the act of tolerance. Tolerance is thus an act of power that inherently entails this softening disguise, this "catholicity of spirit." Magnanimity is a luxury of power but in the case of tolerance, also disguises power.
-- Wendy Brown, excerpt from the essay, 'Reflections on Tolerance in the Age of Identity' (2001)