Deceptively, tolerance is now seen as the hallmark of enlightenment - Olakunle Allison

Why do you lock your door before bedtime?


One of the unfortunate fallouts of contemporary civilization is cultural/moral relativism as opposed to moral realism. How do I mean? You put up a post condemning a particular trend in the society and some relativistic minds would comment;


'Live and let's live'

'Do you and I'll do me'


'What works for them may not work for you. Let them be'


'You can't tell people how to live. Let them be'


'Mind your own business'


'Let people be themselves'


And I wonder, do these people lock their doors at night?


I'm sure most of us have come across seemingly innocuous comments like that. The deception in such comments is that they often come with a veneer of Tolerance. In other words, if you dare pontificate about morality or any social ill and try to impose certain standards of behaviour, you are most likely seen to be Intolerant.


Deceptively, tolerance in this sense is now seen as the hallmark of enlightenment. This is the myth.


Here is the truth;


Sometimes, tolerance or the 'let people be themselves' philosophy reveals our hypocrisy, double standard and cultural permissiveness.


We have become so morally permissive and desensitized so much so that abnormal trends and behaviors have assumed normalcy. Hence, our collective judgment has been badly impaired!


But it's all a lie. We still affirm and uphold objective morality. Yes we do. By our everyday actions.


All our 'live and let's live', 'do you and I'll do me', 'mind your business' nonsense are only useful for lame arguments. In real life, we hypocritically do not believe that people should mind their own business. In fact we condemn those who mind their business in the face of wrongdoing and praise those who meddle. In a global community, staying aloof and silent is not a virtue.


If you believe we should let people be themselves, then you are a hypocrite for always locking your door at night; you are a hypocrite for locking your car in the garage; you are a hypocrite for keeping your handbag under your watch. Just let people be themselves. I believe you got the joke.


When we condemn certain unhealthy and immoral behaviors we reaffirm our belief in humanity and believe in its ability to model its best rather than its worse.


#truthissacred.
Selah.