Tolerance

Daubed on the Berlin Wall - Four Picasso-esque heads

Two are happy smiling faces, looking at each other 

Two faces grumpily look the other way. 

The title of this Mary Mackey artistry - 

(First painted in nineteen-ninety - and then again in oh-nine (2009))

On an historic relic of division 

Tolerance

Carl Popper wrote that unless we’re intolerant of intolerance, tolerance will lose.

But what exactly is Tolerance?

My understanding is that it's the willingness to accept things that we do not like or agree with.

Tolerance is a tool in the hands of the people with power.

It’s they who decide where and when to apply it.

And when they do they expect gratitude and adulation in return.

In other words, it’s a master-servant thing.

The ‘tolerated’ must always “know their place”

And that that tolerance is not irrevocable.

There can be no respect in toleration for when respect enters the room, 

Toleration must change and become acceptance.

Many marginal minorities have sought tolerance,

Never dreaming that the overlords might be capable of more.

Racism, bigotry and prejudice are not halted by tolerance,

They merely go into hiding - but they’re never really out of sight

Even though they think they are.

Tolerance is but a first faltering step in the right direction - towards true unity.

It cannot remain as merely toleration but must grow and develop in acceptance, even love.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire,

Jewish people were compelled to pay to be tolerated -

With the infamous Tolerance Tax

And even though that specific tax didn’t last forever,

There’s always been a price to pay for the oppressed.

Tolerance in Britain, was the 1967 Sexual Offences Act

That removed anti-sodomy laws 

But that acquiescence came with many caveats,

Such that in 1988, Margaret Thatcher 

Brought in Section 28

Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Islamophobia, Xenophobia - 

Let’s just call it hate - now demands to be accepted.

A luta continua - The Struggle Continues

We must be extremely intolerant of hate

And combat it with LOVE. 

by John Fairlamb (c) 2025

Fact and Opinion

 Fact and Opinion

I was taught that there are two distinct categories of information:

Fact and Opinion.

Fact is what we know to be so,

Observable or at least deducible

It’s the holy grail of any crime detective in solving a case.

Fact is science. Science is facts

As much as we like to think we know that we know that we know,

The truth is, no-one can know all the facts

This leads us to something of a grey area of spirituality and religion. 

Proponents of any religious system hold

That their dogma and doctrines, the content of their holy writ 

Belong in the first category: fact

And teaching of anything different is ‘mere opinion’

Or more harshly - heresy.

One might think that the other category should be

The opposite of fact: falsehood, fiction

But actually the other category is opinion

At least that’s what I think!

You see, there I express my opinion -

You’re free to agree or disagree, as you see fit.

Opinions are an individual’s perception of reality -

It might be correct, in which case the information is also fact.

The one who holds an opinion assume they know the relevant facts

But this is where it becomes problematic

We like to think that we base our opinions on facts.

Opinions can be, and often are, just wrong.

We can be mistaken about the facts or maybe we were misinformed.

Opinions might be based on prejudice.

And this is where opinions become dangerous

Especially when they masquerade as facts.

Wait! There’s another category of information: Misinformation.

The deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts or conceal them

We also call this propaganda when employed by powerful people

To manipulate the masses.

It’s my opinion that propaganda exists everywhere

And whether it’s governments or individuals who control the media

There’s an agenda that relies upon

People not knowing what’s going on.