June 30, 2008

Intolerance Has a Very Long History

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman

Intolerance has a long, ugly history; the idea of tolerance is much more recent. We fret that despite the emancipation of Black slaves a century and a half ago racial relations remain, in some circles, poisoned. Some White people maintain that Black people would extract revenge if they could (a projection of what they would do were the situation reversed) and some Black people (certain preachers) believe that all White people are devils. However, these are fringes; racial relations have never been better in this country. The younger generation appears nearly color-blind and the older one regards racial equality as decent. A (half) Black candidate running for president might well get the votes of a majority of the White population. That is not only tolerance; it is integration.

But tolerance does not fare so well elsewhere in our world today. People hate each other for religious, economic, ethnic, or other reasons and they not only do not tolerate - they kill.

One of the ugliest manifestations of murderous bigotry comes out of Tanzania, an African country trying to modernize. People unfortunate enough to have been born albino are being murdered and their body parts sold by witch doctors. Many in Tanzania and across Africa think that albinos have magical powers, not obvious to the albinos, of course, who are not magical enough to keep their neighbors from killing them.

To the Tanzanian government's credit, they have mobilized to protect their albino population, but they cannot be everywhere. Kenya has now caught this ugly practice; an albino woman was hacked to death in May and her eyes, tongue and breasts gouged out. Local witch doctors are also selling albino skin in Congo, a country already an icon of hideous behavior.

Where do these attitudes and practices come from in human history?

• Dangerous Strangers. Our primeval ancestors were in competition with others for hunting and gathering rights. A strange tribe would be regarded with fear because one never knew if they would be murderous. The Neanderthals, our close cousins, and Homo Sapiens, our direct ancestors, regarded each other this way and ours wiped out theirs. Sometimes fear is justified.

• Farmers and Herders. Tribes that mastered herding and horseback riding often attacked settled communities who were farming. The origin of organized war lies here. We still see this particular dynamic in Darfur, where horsemen attack farmers.

• Castes and Religions. People with property and power believed that the only way they could maintain it was to suppress those with less. The Indian caste system arose out of that and color bigotry, still alive in India today. Religious bigotry arose out of monotheism, where the prevailing view was that there was only one true path to God, theirs.

With such ancient instincts in play, how then did tolerance come about?

• Religious Promptings. The ancient Greeks had a myth about a great flood, after which only one old man and his wife remained alive. Gods visited them disguised as men, and the old couple shared their crumbs of food with them. As a result of this kindness to strangers, they were allowed to magically repopulate the world. Be hospitable to people seeking refuge, they learned. Pashtun tribes today are giving refuge to Taliban and al Qaeda for thissame reason.

Jews were taught that the Lord has many mansions, therefore religious tolerance was recommended. Christians read the story of the Good Samaritan and learned the same message. Although not always kind to strangers, the message was always there, and folklore and fairy tales reinforced it.

• Travel Broadens. Merchants, an ancient profession, have always known that people around the world may be colorful, but are really like themselves. Their travel stories fed the home folks with wonders - and civilizing tolerance.Globalization is doing much the same thing today.

• The Communications Revolution. We now see on television people and places once mysterious to us. There we see human beings much like ourselves and that knowledge removes fear.

Some day tolerance might even become affection.

Family Security Matters Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is an historian, lecturer, and author who also writes for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or http://www.globalthink.net/.