The Ethical Intolerance

“The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.” – Omar Bradley

These are the words by a US Army General during World War times.

 Our world is growing and growing GDP wise or money wise. There is an arms race between the countries. Enmity and hatred among people is growing. Everywhere there are blasts and shoot outs. Violence, terrorism, destruction have become everyday life events. No one knows why this is happening and no one is able to stop these.

Recently there was a debate among our ‘intellectuals’ about growing ‘intolerance’ in our country. One group says there is a concentrated effort by some people to alienate religious minorities. They allege this process is supported by the government. The other group defends by saying there is no such ‘intolerance’ in the country but a manufactured one. They give examples from past to show the tolerant nature of our country.

 I don’t know if any such ‘religious’ intolerance exist in our society. But definitely there is a kind ‘intolerance’, which is irreligious. This intolerance is not based on any religion, caste or race. But among the people there is a kind of intolerance or impatience, which I call ‘Ethical Intolerance’.

When we see the behavior of people standing in queues for movie tickets or for darshana in temples or any other place, we can understand about this ‘Ethical Intolerance’ easily. We or the so called ‘general public’, in such queues, simply pull off each other to make way for ourselves. In the run we start fighting among ourselves for very silly reasons. On traffic signals and roads, we hurry as if we have some urgent tasks, during which we cause inconvenience to other people. It is applicable to other situations and places as well. Not to mention about public officials, bank employees, politicians behaving rudely with people.

We don’t like someone faster, smarter or better than us. We don’t like others crossing us. Let alone others, I have seen people comparing themselves with celebrities and great people. In social media, whenever there is a post about some famous personality, immediately two groups are formed, one in support and another to oppose. I have seen people abusing Ronaldo, Messi, Dhoni, Bacchan and other such stars. People abuse, make fun of, comment hate speeches about these stars comparing themselves with these legends. They don’t realize what it takes to be on such level. What I don’t understand is, why there is so much hate towards such people. If someone is not a fan of a particular person then it doesn’t mean that he /she should hate that person.

Not only these, but there are innumerable examples/situations from our daily lives which prove that we are becoming more and more impatient and intolerant.

And I am yet to know the reason behind such ‘intolerance’. Why are we not able to respect other’s views? Why we are becoming so selfish? And why is it all happening now? The questions which we need to ask ourselves.