My much-smarter-than-I political analyst girlfriend and I were talking in November about what the Dems need to do to win in 2006 and 2008. One of the things she mentioned was that we need to expunge "tolerance" from our vocabulary. Why?
Because no one wants to be tolerated. Tolerance means, "We don't really like you blacks (gays/women/Hispanics/whatever) but I guess we have to put up with you." We need to move - and drag the country with us - away from tolerance and toward inclusion.
This column by futurist and entrepreneur Rebecca Ryan makes the case more eloquently than I can. It's written for Madison Magazine in Madison, WI, but holds truths applicable to all of us. Snippets below the fold.
[Note: Edited the title based on posters' comments. I originally hoped it would be a bit provocative, but apparently it was more confusing than anything.]
What's the difference between Tolerance and Inclusion? Tolerance is recognizing differences but preferring peaceful coexistence;
it used to be called "separate but equal." But as Human Rights Watch reports: "Separate is never equal: the experience of racial segregation in the United States testifies eloquently to how preserving discreteness only perpetuates discrimination."
Inclusion doesn't just recognize differences; it values them. When you tolerate someone, you may understand their world view, but your world view is unchanged. When you include someone, you embrace their issues as your own: Dads become feminists when their daughters are adopted or born; parents not only admit to having a gay child (the Cheneys), they join PFLAG (Cher.)
If people are tolerant, they are open to information about the things that make us different. Their understanding of the difference is cerebral, intellectual, and information-based. They say things like, "We all have our differences." Their world view is static. They want peaceful coexistence. The people who influence them have similar world views.
By contrast, if people are inclusive, they are impacted by what they know and understand about differences. Their understanding of those differences is visceral; they feel injustice toward others in their bones. They say things like, "Your issues are my issues." Their worldview constantly makes room for new realities. They want shared and representative power. The people who influence them rattle their cages, disagree and stretch their thinking.
Emphasis mine.