Repressive Tolerance

First video on repressive tolerance. I'm going to make a few more videos on this because there are more examples to better explain what repressive tolerance is and also demonstrate how to properly apply the concept of repressive tolerance.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Herbert
• Marcuse
• repressive
• absolute
• tolerance
• seeing
• past
• shibboleths
• and
• specious
• arguments

[behaack]

Marcuse's call for intolerance toward so-called oppressive voices is nothing less than an attempt to suppress opinions he didn't like. For those trying to understand where this is leading - MochiMC is calling for an end to free speech (which he dislikes).

Marcuse was a Marxist theorist who tried to extend Gramsci's policy of cultural hegemony. His words were music to progressives' ears who wanted a way to shove their ideas down other's throats while suppressing opposing opinions.

[MochiMC]

Marcuse helped me identify limitations on tolerance. At one point I was confused because this doctrine of absolute tolerance had led me to having to be tolerant of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. which I don't agree with. Marcuse validated my desire to speak out against systems of oppression and to call out things I disagreed with. You might not agree with his politics, but most anyone who denounces another opinion is embracing the idea that we shouldn't tolerate everything :)

[TommygunNG]

Translation: If you're a Leftist, you can say whatever you want and must be tolerated (even on disagreements within the Left). But if you're a Rightist, you have to shut up.

[MochiMC]

I don't think I mentioned right or left at all, but if I had, I would have mentioned that Marcuse points out that liberals and conservatives are opposite sides of the same coin. They both contribute to the perpetuation of institutions that are at the foundation of liberal and conservative politics.

[RobGoth100]

Interesting point FOX is the oppressive force but ABC,CBS,NBC,MSNBC,CNN,NPR,BBC,­CBC,NYT, PACIFICA are the oppressed media.

GIVE ME A BREAK!

[MochiMC]

CNN is definitely up there with FOX. MSNBC might have liberal voices, but you listen to some of these liberal voices and you'll notice that they still contribute to racism, xenophobia, sexism, and the perpetuation of capitalism.

[TheCanine2]

A fairly recent twist on an old human impulse:

imposing your will on people, and exercising your DOMINION over others...and all the while making it seem "noble." Yes, the lust for power exists among the left, too. They just express it differently.

[TheCanine2]

Marcuse: “Who is qualified to make all these…distinctions [on what should be tolerated]…for the society as a whole, has now one logical answer, namely, everyone 'in the maturity of his faculties' …this would be a small number indeed, and not necessarily that of the elected representatives of the people. The problem is...breaking the tyranny of public opinion…”

Something tells me Marcuse saw himself as one of the "small number."

And remember, Marcuse is the CORNERSTONE of the left

[faelismaegnus]

Marcuse is bullshit. Censorship is censorship. There is no such thing as absolute tolerance. Marcuse is setting up a false choice between two false possibilities. Your judgment of statements that you believe are oppressive is based upon your own "10 commandments". P.C. is hypocritical. Your political correctness is the power in academia and represses/indoctrinates its ideological opponents. You assume that what you desire is good for the "repressed/oppressed/minority"­.

[philnoll]

@iamcuriousblue No worries

[iamcuriousblue]

@philnoll Misread your last comment and thought you were saying the exact opposite of what you were saying. Sorry about that last comment if you read it before I removed it.

[philnoll]

@iamcuriousblue Its a tough question. Living in a world that values individual freedom so much, we can't expect to integrate the Arab world without modifying our own values to accomodate them through this tough transition, but the theory is they'll begin to like the land of plenty, and they'll modify their extremist beliefs, or at least their kids will. Best thing to do is to show them respect, and then show them your side. Change may take long time, but its worth the wait.

[iamcuriousblue]

@philnoll But then what happens if a practitioner of an oppressive religion turns around and claims they're the ones being oppressed, that *you're* the one being intolerant, and that there needs to be zero tolerance against *you*? Which, in actuality, is pretty close to the situation in Europe, where radical Islamists in some countries have been able to invoke the idea of Islamophobia to silence critics.

[iamcuriousblue]

Now believe me, I'm all for ringing denunciation of ideas that are themselves intolerant or bigoted, but I reject violence or the use of state censorship as a means to achieve this. And, BTW, I have made a similar argument against the claim that my speech was "intolerant" against none other than your friend Nuclearnight and her cronies, who in my opinion are simply intolerant bigots themselves and worthwhile targets for denunciation. I've blogged about this here: goo(dot)gl/3nOqo .

[iamcuriousblue]

@MochiMC "most anyone who denounces another opinion is embracing the idea that we shouldn't tolerate everything" If that's all Marcuse was saying, then her really wouldn't be saying anything different from classical liberalism, which calls for countering with bad ideas with more speech and better ideas. It seems to me that Marcuse is making a justification of political repression as a means for "liberation", and in that regard, he comes pretty close to Leninism.

(cont)