Monday OT: 11/16/2020 - International Day For Tolerance

Today is day 320 of the Gregorian Calendar year,
Setting Orange, The Aftermath 28, 3186 YOLD
And let us not forget 13.0.8.0.7 mlc (the Mayan Long Count)

Albigensian_Crusade_01

Albigensian_Crusade + Massacre at Beziers

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Tolerance:  Noun - the capacity to endure continued subjection to something, especially a drug, transplant, antigen, or environmental conditions, without adverse reaction. Wait? What? Hang on a minute here --

OK, that's a United Nations Holiday, A Day of Tolerance, so I guess it is as good as we can expect, and far less wordy than most of them are, so a small win there.  There is much good in the underlying motivation, so I'll give it that too, but "tolerance" really?   That seriously does not cut it. I've had the misfortune to have been injured and generally busted up time and again and, as a result, have developed something of a tolerance for pain.  You tolerate noisy neighbors.  If circumstances force you to live in an industrial neighborhood or food desert, you learn to tolerate all of the conditions that are part of living in such a locale.  You do not, however, tolerate good, tasty foods and wines, comfort, warmth, clean air, good friends, and nice scenery, but instead relish and enjoy those things.

There is an assumption embedded in this language and the viewpoint it represents that if somebody differs from me in some way, be it hair style, gender, speech, language, color or "race" (whatever that may be), dietary preferences, religion, culture, or anything else, then that should cause me pain, stress, anxiety or other discomfort, which I should then (wo)man up and tolerate.  The fact that such people exist or that those differences exist is not painful or distressing, nor should it be.  I am not the norm nor the standard to which others should be compared in any respect.  That has been made very clear to me throughout my entire life.  But that is pretty much true of any of us, we are none of us all that special.  Our differences should be savored and celebrated.  What else keeps us from being some boring, bland, homogeneous porridge of drones and clones?  It is from our differences that we learn, grow and develop as individuals, and evolve as cultures.  We should rejoice in our differences and be eager to embrace our fellow humans.  Tolerance is simply the wrong concept and the wrong word.

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On this day in history:

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0534 – Justinian I published the second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus
1491 – An auto-da-fé, held in the Brasero de la Dehesa outside of Ávila, concluded the case of the Holy Child of La Guardia with the public execution of several Jewish and converso suspects.
1532 – Francisco Pizarro and his men captured Inca Emperor Atahualpa.
1776 – The United Provinces (Low Countries) recognized the independence of the United States.
1822 – William Becknell arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.
1849 – A Russian court sentenced writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities but his sentence was later commuted to hard labor.
1852 – John Russell Hind discovered the asteroid 22 Kalliope.
1855 – David Livingstone became the first European to see the Victoria Falls.
1871 – The National Rifle Association received its charter from New York State.
1885 – Louis Riel, leader of the Métis, was executed for treason.
1904 – John Ambrose Fleming received a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube).
1907 – Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th U.S. state.
1914 – The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opened.
1920 – Qantas airline was founded
1933 – The United States and the Soviet Union established formal diplomatic relations.
1938 – LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann from ergotamine
1940 – The Nazis closed off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.
1940 – George Metesky placed his first bomb.
1945 – UNESCO was founded.
1965 – The Soviet Union launched the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.
1973 – Skylab program: NASA launched Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.
1973 – Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
1989 – El Salvadoran army troops killed six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
1992 – The Hoxne Hoard was discovered in Hoxne, Suffolk.

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Born this day in:

In civitate libera linguam mentemque liberas esse debere (jactabat).
In a free state there should be freedom of speech and thought.

-- Tiberius

42 BCE – Tiberius, Roman empe1ror
0643 – Jean Chardin, jeweler and explorer
1717 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher
1720 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, composer (
1806 – Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, author and educator
1836 – Kalakaua of Hawaii
1873 – W. C. Handy, trumpet player and composer
1894 – Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, philosopher and politician
1895 – Paul Hindemith, violinist, composer, and conductor
1899 – Mary Margaret McBride, radio host
1905 – Eddie Condon, guitarist and banjo player
1916 – Al Lucas, bassist
1927 – Dolo Coker, pianist and composer
1931 – Hubert Sumlin, singer and guitarist
1933 – Garnet Mimms, R&B singer
1935 – Elizabeth Drew, journalist and author
1938 – Troy Seals, singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
1941 – Angelo Gilardino, guitarist, composer, and musicologist
1941 – Dan Penn, singer, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Teenie Hodges, guitarist and songwriter
1946 – Colin Burgess, drummer and songwriter
1946 – Barbara Smith, writer
1946 – Beverly Smith, writer
1948 – Chi Coltrane, singer, songwriter, and pianist
1959 – Glenda Bailey,  journalist
1962 – Mani, bass player
1963 – Steve Argüelles, drummer and producer
1964 – Diana Krall, singer, songwriter ,and pianist
1966 – Joey Cape, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1966 – Dave Kushner, guitarist
1966 – Christian Lorenz, keyboard player
1970 – Logan Mader, guitarist and producer
1972 – Missi Pyle, actress and singer
1976 – Dan Black, singer and songwriter
1977 – Gigi Edgley, singer, songwriter, and actress
1978 – Carolina Parra, guitarist and drummer
1981 – Allison Crowe, singer and songwriter
1981 – Kate Miller-Heidke, singer and songwriter

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Died this day in:

Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having.

-- Louis Riel

1131 – Dobrodeia of Kiev, Rus princess and author of medical books
1240 – Ibn Arabi, Arab philosopher
1628 – Paolo Quagliati, organist and composer
1885 – Louis Riel, lawyer and politician
1973 – Alan Watts, philosopher, author, and educator
1984 – Vic Dickenson, trombonist
1994 – Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti, singer,songwriter, and guitarist
2001 – Tommy Flanagan, pianist and composer
2013 – Robert Conley, journalist
2015 – Michael C. Gross, Agraphic designer and producer
2018 – William Goldman, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
2019 – John Campbell Brown, astronomer

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
International Day for Tolerance (United Nations)

National Fast Food Day (USA)

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Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies Wink

Carlo Antonio Campioni

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W.C. Handy

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Paul Hindemith

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Eddie Condon

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Dolo Coker

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Hubert Sumlin

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Garnet Mimms

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Diana Krall

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Vic dickenson

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Chet Powers

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Tommy Flanagan

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It's an open thread, so do your thing

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Comments

Lookout's picture

Back in the 90's some friends started a magazine, Teaching Tolerance,
https://www.tolerance.org/ operating out of the Southern poverty law center in Montgomery.

I understand your dislike of the word, but the idea of accepting differences has benefits. Perhaps acceptance is better, except there are times/situations which require defiance.

Words are slippery things. Perhaps we need to be tolerant of language?
It isn't what I say that counts, it is what I mean that has meaning.

Hope everyone's day is tolerable...even pleasant!

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14 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout

very early days, including the"teaching Tolerance" project and mag and teaching materials. Tolerance is a good thing which, sadly needs to be taught because intolerance is the norm and is, in fact, being actively taught in many ways every damn day.

The point I ws trying to make is that it is not, in itself, sufficient, nor the proper goal or endpoint. We must, at some point, move beyond mere tolerance, so I decided to use the "Holiday" as an opportunity to push that narrative.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

QMS's picture

Although technically occurring on the 20th November,

(2005) recent legislation changed the celebration to occur on the third Monday of November each year, regardless of date

It was a 10 year struggle for the people of Mexico, led by the likes of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapapta.

some fun facts in history:

In April 1914 U.S. opposition to Huerta culminated in the seizure and occupation of the port of Veracruz by U.S. marines and sailors. Initially intended, in part, to prevent a German merchant vessel from delivering a shipment of arms to the Huerta regime, the muddled operation evolved into a seven-month stalemate resulting in the death of 193 Mexican soldiers, 19 U.S. servicemen and an unknown number of civilians. The German ship landed its cargo—largely U.S.-made rifles—in a deal brokered by U.S. businessmen (at a different port). U.S. forces eventually left Veracruz in the hands of the Carrancistas, but with lasting damage to U.S.-Mexican relations.

220px-Ricardo_and_Enrique_Flores_Magon.jpg

Ricardo Flores Magón (left) and Enrique Flores Magón (right), leaders of the Mexican Liberal Party in jail in the Los Angeles (CA) County Jail, 1917.

220px-Partido_Liberal_Mexicano_button_1911.svg-2.png

and the struggles continue

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question everything

enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

that the occupation of Veracruz was to protect us citizens and the property they owned in Vera Cruz (an old favorite bogus justification for our vicious attacks on the sovereignty of other nations that you may recall from other, more modern, invascions and occupations.

The last US occupying troops finally dragged their ass out of Vera Cruz on 11/23/1914. If you do not object, I will include your full comment, with full attribution, in my column for the 23rd which is still under construction.

We've never had good relations with Mexico and likely never will.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@QMS , by Townes Van Zandt

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enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

QMS's picture

@randtntx

I suppose.
nice, thx

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question everything

Anja Geitz's picture

A better word for our interaction with humanity is empathy. Or ultimately compassion. Each of us has our own journey to travel, with its hardships and it’s victories, and we have so much more to gain by giving. As one of the leaders in my Buddhist community said to me recently, “I try to listen to understand even if I can’t agree”.

It’s the least we could do, right?

Thanks for a great perspective on a word not too many of us gave much thought about.
Until now. Smile

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

enhydra lutris's picture

@Anja Geitz

“I try to listen to understand even if I can’t agree”.

how else, for that matter, can one be certain that one does not agree.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Anja Geitz's picture

@enhydra lutris

My friend. How indeed?

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

usefewersyllables's picture

hate, despise, and *abhor* people who are intolerant. Can't stand 'em. Won't even be in the room with 'em if I can help it. Intolerant people got no reason....

Oops, did I say that in my outside voice? Sorry. Nothing to see here, carry on.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

enhydra lutris's picture

@usefewersyllables

I was already getting a bit wordy, do I didn't add a caveat that certain ideas are best tolerated, it that, since many cannot be embraced by reasonable people.

be well and have a good one

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2 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

that Dostoyevsky spent 4 years in a Siberian prison camp. No tolerance for his ideas. I was very much into his books while I was in college but haven't read him since then. I wonder what I would think of him now.

We had our first cool dip into the 40's this morning. It's a spectacular sunny day. Thanks for the OT, have a good one.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

smiley7's picture

Thank you for today's OT and conversation.

Suppose tolerance comes in many layers; never been very tolerant of folks who show up late for engagements or work, "the show goes on time."

Having said that, been losing hair for exactly that reason, trying to get tradespeopele to work on house and so on.

Find myself with a deeply growing intolerance of those who spread hate and ignorance; feeling more in a Malcolm x mood.

Or said a different way; returning hate with love and peace grows more challenging for this old cranky man who doesn't feel well on days.

Presently writing in frustration of the current process, so forgive my tone.

This is, after all, the place where friends are enlightened, tolerant and empathetic and caring. Pleased to be a part of this community, this oasis from the madness.

Have a good one and be safe.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@smiley7

all well and good to believe in tolerance and more, but sometimes one's reflexes take over. Hopefully based solely on specific behaviors of specific individuals. We can but try, as they say.

good to see your input.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

QMS's picture

where friends are enlightened, tolerant, empathetic and caring.

good stuff

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question everything

smiley7's picture

@QMS

more hats for xmas presents, if you have more. I'm expecting to be busy for the next week, but when the dust settles, i'll contact you.

Mahola.

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magiamma's picture

well... love the ones your with unless you can't I guess. Then love not letting them fill up space in your 'head'. Easy to say, hard to do. My level of tolerance is waning, declining as is my patience with a lot of things. So working on tolerating my intolerance of my state of mind. Embrace chaos, be water flowing, akido falling, no pushing, well maybe a bit but with the flow. heh.

Take good care everyone.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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enhydra lutris's picture

@magiamma

Tao, the sublime turbulence and chaos of water flowing, a bubble in the stream.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

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enhydra lutris's picture

@lotlizard

Ironically, there was a movement, possibly successful in some places, to ban Huck Finn when I was a kid because it showed a white kid and black adult bumming around together more or less amicably.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

TheOtherMaven's picture

@enhydra lutris

not excluding teachers who aggravate the problem because they won't, or more likely can't, teach the social context (because they don't know it themselves).

There is no more poignant statement of anti-racism than Huck's decision that he will be damned - and he meant it literally - rather than turn Jim in.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

enhydra lutris's picture

@TheOtherMaven

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --