ROBERT SIBLEY IS A MAN OF WISDOM, WE should have heeded his - TopicsExpress

ROBERT SIBLEY IS A MAN OF WISDOM, WE should have heeded his advice. Sibley sums up the problem: Indeed, dissatisfied with tolerance as a virtuous habit of patience and forbearance, weve tried to sidestep the need for it though various attempts to overcome our flawed nature. Whether through politics or pills, biotechnology or behavioural modification, we seek to order human experience in terms of safe, comfortable and passive contentment. As philosopher John Gray puts it: Grounded as it is in accepting the imperfectability of the human lot, (classical) toleration is bound to be uncongenial to the ruling illusions of the epoch, all of which cherish the project of instituting a political providence in human affairs whereby tragedy and mystery would be banished. Isnt this a wonderful picture of the kind of inherent utopianism animating the likes of Barbara Hall and other purveyors of the new so-called human rights regime? If only she could rein us all in through her carrots and sticks, we could all live happily ever after in a hyper-tolerant heaven on earth, brought to you by our tax dollars and our ideological superiors. Does she not realize she is the modern Inquisitor of today, with the state power to root out and suppress heresy? For nearly five decades postmodern intellectuals have claimed that the assimilation of non-western immigrants is wrong because it presumes the superiority of western culture. These cultural relativists insist that the contemporary West, with its hard-won heritage of the rule of law, political freedom and individual rights, is no better than those cultures that remain tyrannical, violent and oppressive. The result has been a therapeutic multiculturalism, to borrow philosopher Michael Walzers phrase, that promotes the relativity of all cultures and values. But this relativistic multiculturalism amounts to a de facto surrender of those values and traditions that are the very source of tolerance. Therapeutic multiculturalism, says Walzer, threatens to undermine every sort of common identity and standard behaviour, Unfortunately, this imprudent thinking has infected the public mind with uncertainty and doubt regarding western values and achievements. So much so, says philosopher Roger Scruton, that western societies are experiencing an acute crisis of identity. Many westerners no longer conceive of themselves according to the Enlightenment ideal as rational creatures capable of rising above the limitations of birth, culture or geography. Now they assume their sense of identity, their sense of belonging, is tied to a particular religion, ethnic group or lifestyle community. This is a reversion to tribalism. And to the degree postmodern multiculturalism fosters this new tribalism, it threatens the Wests liberal heritage. The retention and continuance of that heritage requires putting an end to the self-flagellating psychology of anti-western postmodernism. One small step in this direction is the recovery of toleration, properly conceived. Genuine toleration presumes disagreement. This disagreement, however, is accompanied a willingness to treat the one with whom you disagree decently and respectfully. That doesnt mean, as the postmodern multicultists insist, that you are required to support, nourish, esteem or validate beliefs or lifestyles with which you disagree. deborahgyapong.blogspot.ca/2008/05/robert-sibleys-prescription-recover.html