Tolerance must be more than a pious wish

Title

Creator

Forster, E. M.

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XIV (No.9) September 1962

Year

1962

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

The New York Times, February 22, 1953

Fulltext

TOLERANCE MUST BE MORE THAN A PIOUS WISH E. M. Forster Tolerance is important, no one can deny that, and if it is talked about so that peopie dispute what it is, or isn’t, its importance should be maintained or increased. Let me therefore set up an Aunt Sally. Aunt Sallys are not as common in my coun try * as they were, and for all I know they may have never crossed the Atlantic. Certain ly I cannot imagine one on the Mayflower. So I had bet ter define, and definition in this case is not so difficult. Aunt Sally is, or was, an elderly doll who was set up on a fairground to be shied at. She was tied to a stick or attached to a hinge. Three shies for a penny at Aunt Sally! Perhaps there was a prize if one hit her; perhaps the pleasure of bashing her face in was in itself sufficient reward. I forget. But she has become a symbol for the • United Kingdom. tentative definition. Knock her over if you can. Let me define tolerance as tolerating»other people even when they don’t tolerate you. Risks Are Required It is an austere definition. No politician would accept it. But if tolerance is to play any practical part in the modern world, if any head way is to be made against fanaticism, if there is to be any easing of the tensions between class and class, race and race, country and coun try, then tolerance must be more than a pious wish, more than a woolly assertion of good-will. It must have courage, and it must be pre pared to take risks. At this point someone shies a ball at my Aunt Sally. It hits her. She staggers. Someone has in effect said: “The modern world is in deed dangerous, and that is 34 Panorama exactly why one can’t take risks in it. It is so dangerous that tolerance is a luxury, which we can only indulge with those who reciprocate it. I don’t like the color of so-and-so’s face — it’s green and I dislike faces — still I’ll put up with his face if he’ll put up with mine. Mine is, of course, blue, the proper color for faces, and if he com plains of it, if he threatens it, then my only remedy is to drop a bomb on him before he drops one on me. Toler ance is all very well, but there is such a thing as self preservation.” Monotony Tolerance is not only need ed to avoid disaster. It is also needed in peace condi tions, if a community is to remain healthy and creative. An intolerant community, exacting the “right point of view” is condemned to mo notony, even if the right point of view is a good one. Its citizens would lack cur iosity. They would tend to be all alike for the sake of avoiding friction. They would educate their children the same way, eat the same food at the same time, laugh at the same jokes, succumb to the same advertisements, go to the same places in the same planes, and they would denounce as subversive any one who criticized them. Money — any money alone — would distinguish one human being in that community from- another and the spirit ual tyranny of the income bracket would triumph. I would certainly soonen live in a monotonous com munity than in a world of universal war, but I would sooner be dead than live in either of them. My heart is in the world of today, with its varieties and contrasts, its blue and green faces, and my hope is that, through cour ageous tolerance, the world of today may be preserved. Risks must be taken. It’s difficult. Aunt Sally trembles on her perch as the welldirected missiles hit her. But what’s your alternative? — The New York Times, Feb ruary 22, 1953. September 1962 35

pages

34+

Media