Cohousing-L Mailing List: Tolerance is not the same as politically correct

[Bombadil (bombadil]

> > The Common House is almost complete and
> > will be finished for Christmas.
>
> Not looking for religious diversity, eh? :)
>
> Seriously, though - i know i'm sensitive to this kind of thing (!), but so
> might other potential buyers be.  How about.. "finished for the winter
> holidays"?  "finished by the end of the year"? "finished for new years"?

I kind of think people who are offended by this wouldn't be tolerant enough 
to live happily in a diverse community. This is simply a way of expressing 
a date that reflects the point of view of the speaker. It is not putting 
down anyone's religion. In fact, it doesn't even tell you the religion of 
the speaker, as I've heard non-Christians speak of something happening by 
Christmas. To assume anything about the speaker's attitudes towards other 
people, their religion, their culture, etc. is totally unjustified based on 
the statement. If you can't tell anything about the person, why take offense.

I know many people have been sensitized by their life experiences, often 
with good reason. I'm just suggesting this isn't a happy way of thinking 
and someone who wants to live in a close community might want to work on 
overcoming it.

I know some people think tolerance means policing their speech so that it 
contains nothing that could possibly offend anyone, but I don't agree. I 
think it means accepting the rights of others to have their own point of 
view, culture, beliefs, etc. It doesn't mean everyone has to censor who 
they are to the lowest common denominator. If I say by Christmas, and my 
friend says by Ramadan, that's fine with both of us. If I don't know when 
Ramadan starts, I'll ask my friend. If my friend doesn't know when 
Christmas is, she'll ask me. No offense taken on either side, and perhaps 
some learning.

In my experience, people can be politically correct without feeling true 
tolerance, and people can be truly tolerant without being politically 
correct. I really enjoy diversity, including differences in expression.

>>> It's not a question of being offended - I mostly wasn't. But it didn't 
make it sound like a place that I would want to live, so i figured it was 
worth mentioning :) <<<

LOL - and I had just the opposite thought - I would be wary of a place 
where everyone has to be careful of what they say and how they say it for 
fear of offending someone.

Linda



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