Is society becoming increasingly intolerant?

I know we've come a long way but - and it could just be me - it seems like people have started backtracking recently.

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of talk about how Islam can't be accepted or work in Western society at all because certain parts of the Qur'an go against Western values but the same can be said in regards to Christianity (and various other "acceptable" religions). The only reason it doesn't conflict with Western values is because certain parts of The Bible are ignored (the parts forbidding homosexuality for example). The same can be done, and has been done with the Qu'ran for many years but it's only become a problem now.

There's also the anti-gay movement (can it be called a movement?) and conspiracy theories of "gay-indoctrination" that are actually being taken seriously nowadays. Certainly not by the majority but by enough for it to be seen as an issue. I know people have used "gay" as an insult for a while but even little kids are starting to do it, at least much more than they did when I was growing up. Anything remotely out of the norm is now deemed gay, disgusting, etc.

Has society become less tolerant over the last decade or have I just started noticing examples of intolerance more?

We've come far as a society, but there will always be those who wish to turn back the clock. These groups have become more vocal over the years, but hardly more predominant. People like Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, and groups like those against homosexuality, are preaching to the choir, as it were. And it is a choir that is steadily shrinking as a whole.

There are hotbeds of intolerance...places where it festers and rots, fermenting into hatred. Places like Alabama and other parts of the bible belt. Intolerance is more common here, but even then, it is slowly being displaced by the new generations.

There will always be intolerance in society...people who are insecure and so must wank their egos off by putting down others for arbitrary reasons. But as for society as a whole marching backward to the dark ages...I think not. Nothing short of some great cataclysm will be able to undo the progress of thousands of years.

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Originally Posted by Mario92

But as for society as a whole marching backward to the dark ages...I think not. Nothing short of some great cataclysm will be able to undo the progress of thousands of years.

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Oh, no of course not; I meant the last decade specifically. :P I get your point though.

Bear in mind that economic strife is one of the main causes of discrimination, because people love a scapegoat. The Great Depression gave us the Nazis, and the current recession has seen the birth of some similar groups on the right with worryingly ill-defined ideologies and emphasis on personality, the Tea Party being the main example. Things aren't so bad at the moment. If they do go very bad in the future, and I think they probably will, you can count on people forgetting the lessons of the past.

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Originally Posted by Xei

Bear in mind that economic strife is one of the main causes of discrimination, because people love a scapegoat. The Great Depression gave us the Nazis, and the current recession has seen the birth of some similar groups on the right with worryingly ill-defined ideologies and emphasis on personality, the Tea Party being the main example. Things aren't so bad at the moment. If they do go very bad in the future, and I think they probably will, you can count on people forgetting the lessons of the past.

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I think you're right there. I know a few people who constantly blame the situations with jobs, housing and the economy on immigrants.

Yeah, we've witnessed tons of corruption in banking and the government. Of course it's all the immigrants' fault. :roll:

I only see two paths. One uses standards the other does not.

For example, if one were to take the foundation of Islam, I believe the author tauted to be the second comming--an obvious lie. Mormons are based on the same lie. I wonder how many so called second comming religions there are?

As for people with mental problems, the answer speaks for itself.

All advancements in civilization were based upon standards. The decline of those civilzations followed the decline of standards--often even when the standards were lies.

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Originally Posted by Xei

Bear in mind that economic strife is one of the main causes of discrimination, because people love a scapegoat. The Great Depression gave us the Nazis, and the current recession has seen the birth of some similar groups on the right with worryingly ill-defined ideologies and emphasis on personality, the Tea Party being the main example. Things aren't so bad at the moment. If they do go very bad in the future, and I think they probably will, you can count on people forgetting the lessons of the past.

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People usually do forget the lessons of the past. Though we have to keep reminding our self of them, and tell other people about them, so we wont run into the same problems.

Which is why I am going to mention something that everyone already knows. 14 trillion dollar debt. That is one of our biggest problems, that no one wants to deal with.

I am sure if things get worse and we experience run away hyper inflation, which will destroy the entire economy, the government is going to blame the people. They will say people saved to much, and didn't spend enough, and that caused the crash. And then they will raise taxes, and say the private sector can't hire everyone, the government needs to hire everyone. So they will create a bunch of pointless jobs that don't do much, just to give people money, which they then pay back in taxes. Except if you are not charging a 100% tax, the government will never make up what they pay out, so in the end the debt goes back up and we cheer and save the government saved our economy then 30 years down the road we get screwed over all over again.

Any way, I think most people know that immigrants and muslims are not the main cause. Most of the people who might be consider intolerant, probably think they are a factor but even they know it isn't truly all their fault. Though I am sure there are some extreme examples.

In the case of the government, it is entirely the governments fault. They been using propaganda for years to try and build support for their wars in the middle east, a war no one ever wanted in the first place.

Don't forget the blaring contradiction to one of Christ's central motives, give everything you own to the poor.

To answer the question though, I think it depends where you look. The Americans have a black president, that would have been unpredictable even 20 years ago. In my experiences I feel that tolerance toward homosexuality has increased, at least in my area. Again, it's probably highly dependent on where you look geographically.

In a lot of ways I think society is becoming more tolerant of diversity, although particular hate groups stand out in this day and age (think Westboro Baptist Church) but I don't believe they represent the opinions of the majority. Old hatreds passed down through generations (like racism, homophobia, etc) are being rejected by most youths today and I expect this trend to continue in the coming years.

I agree with SpecialInterests, it also depends on where you live. Racism/homophobia is more common in Mississippi than in Oregon for instance, hate is cultural.

*get's insulted by random person* "Well that was gay." I say.
*spills coffee on new blouse* "Ugh! How gay!"
*listens to friend tell a stupid joke* "You're so gay!"

And by "I", I certainly don't mean me. But, ugh, my children put me through torture for over a year over that trendy new saying. I kept drilling into their brains that it wasn't nice, but they'd say "We don't mean it like THAT!"
Thankfully, that's about the only spike toward intolerance I've personally experienced or witnessed.
Every now and then one of my kids will slip and the old saying will spill out, but it's very rare.
I don't know who started that one, but I'd like to give them a verbal lashing :roll:

Coming from the generation which calls stuff 'gay'; it's not really intolerant. It's basically turned into just another meaning of the word, like 'happy'... at worst it's just tongue in cheek. I know a gay guy who calls stuff 'gay'.

I would like to think we're not getting less tolerant but that the bigots are merely louder. But... I'm a bit cynical. Maybe it's just the media's focus on the bad because it is better news, but I'm not so sure. Watching the Daily Show today bothers me. Politics should not be funny, and Jon Stewart, as much as I love him, should not have a job. The fact that he does merely makes me more jaded.

I do love these threads on Dreamviews. To think of how bigoted, intolerant, some of the liberals on here are towards the socially conservatives. You ask if society is becoming more intolerant, well if you mean moving away from social liberalism to social conservativism then yes. You call people Racist/bigoted for saying immigration causes problems, when almost every Black/Asian person I've met is opposed to immigration.

I'm opposed to immigration, especially from non-western immigration for several reasons, some of them include the strain it puts on our infrastructure which isn't able to cope. Other reasons include the fact that, Non-western immigrants commit crime more often, require more healthcare (which puts quite a strain on the tax bill of countries with universal healthcare), and drag down standards in schools. This is generally excluding east asian immigrants, not that I approve of east asian immigration, just that in small numbers it's not really a problem.

I know at least 10 non-white people who are aware that I support the British National Party and none of them have any problems with it, 2 of them actually vote for them themselves. it's funny how whites seem to be more opposed to them than non-whites, in my experience and observation at least.

As to the 'gay' thing. Well I was part of the generation that called things 'gay' all the time, I don't really think that was a problem at all, loads of gay people themselves used the word in the same context it had no intentional meaning. I don't think people are so much intolerant of gay people themselves, just the flamboyancy that sometimes accompanies it, and if you think they are 'bigots' then you're just telling people what they are allowed or not allowed to be uncomfortable with, which is quite authoritarian for a supposed 'liberal'.

People will always find a reason to hate each other. It's pretty much bullying. If you're not being hated for your religion you're being hated for your sexuality, the color of your skin, your financial situation, how you choose to raise your family... People just... hate. That will never change and even as people become more tolerant of one thing they will find something else to be intolerant of. The only thing the individual can do is learn to rise above it. You can't change peoples opinions or perceptions of you, but you can decide that you're not going to fall into the same trap and learn to accept them as they are. Ignore them when they're vocal, defend yourself when they try and hurt you, and feel no ill will towards them despite their hatred. It's really hard. Hatred is contagious, it's easy. It's so easy. But it feels so much better if you can learn to let it go. If you can learn to relax and take the punches as they come and maybe you can set an example for others.

I'm trying, but I find myself slipping all the time. It's a learning process.

I'd like to add that tolerance does not describe an emotional state. You can feel contempt, even hatred, for certain things and still be a tolerant, open-minded individual. I say this because quite a few people seem to think that, to be tolerant, means one not only has to assume an attitude of permissiveness toward harmless differences among people, but that you also have to like those differences and embrace them.

oh damn, I agree. I am a Christian Deist >here is some info if need be> ( http://www.christiandeistfellowship....stiandeist.htm ) and I support homosexuals rights, gay marriage, etc. It completely sickens me when I see the fucking "GOD HATES FAGS" crap. I can't stand the fundamentalist, evangelical Christian bullshit, coming from a Christian myself. I find myself as an egalitarian, and I don't see the need for all of this discrimination and intolerance. I think intolerance to gays is getting better, but at the same time it isn't. Intolerance in general is sort of a "one step forward and two steps back" sorta thing, at least where I am. I just can't stand when I see religions and churches brainwashing people (children mainly)...those Christians who home school their kids to block them off from the world, telling them everything else is completely wrong and should be thrown out the window sort of thing just sickens me. We should all have an open mind and respect; this goes along with what Black_Eagle said, I do have tolerance for these things but it doesn't mean I love them. I accept it. Also what Xei said about gay people calling something gay is somewhat of a double standard, in some cases, I know gay people who take complete offense to heterosexuals saying something is "gay" but then you say some gay people say it as well, as a negative connotation? I personally don't call things "gay", why don't people say "oh, that is so hetero!" that would be interesting.

I think Xei's first comment is largely to blame for this (if a rise in intolerance is actually happening, which I'm not so sure of). Another factor may be that what is called "The Greatest Generation" in the US is now in its death throws and is trying to push harder to force the world into their ideologies before it is too late (they die). Even the kind gentle members of the "greatest generation" are typically narrow-minded bigots in their own way. My own sweet dear grandparents are unfortunately counted in this group. After they relinquish their hold on the planet, we unfortunately will still have to suffer the continuing affronts of the "Entitlement Generation" AKA the baby boomers, but then the world will start getting better, finally. (fingers crossed)...

I actually just looked up Entitlement Generation to see if it was in common use, and apparently that is what the Baby Boomers are calling my generation. What a fucking laugh. We'll be paying their debts for another 100 years at least.