The Limits of Tolerance

Preface: Tolerance in the Age of Apallism

Demagogues are enjoying full success with half-truths. In order to stop them, we must agree with them where they are right, and criticize them where they distort reality. That is
how we put out the fire on which they steep their ideologic cup of tea.

But that is easier said than done. For we are living in an age of “appallism”: being on the
“right side” and being “genuinely appalled” often count more than the ability of weighing
different views against each other in an unbiased way. Appallists have filled the public
space with sensational phrases in a way that a rational debate seems hardly possible
anymore. “Sentiments instead of arguments” is the motto, and the results can be
observed on social networks. Whoever points out the dangers of political Islam is labelled
as a racist in a blink; whoever notes that not all Muslims dream of jihad is made to look
like a naive bleeding-heart. Weiterlesen

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