Tolerance vs. Acceptance

This week a delegation of 21 international visitors from countries all over the world began a program called "Promoting Tolerance through the Arts." Each delegate is somehow involved in the arts in their home countries. Some are artists themselves and others are directors or coordinators for arts projects. Each of the delegates was nominated because they are seen as leaders in their countries for their work in the arts. I suppose that ideally, they are also striving to promote tolerance through their work. I was surprised to learn that many of them had differing views on tolerance. I will expand more on these differences later. First, I want to describe the event that took place on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, the group spent the evening at Busboys and Poets--check out the website. Imagine the perfect setting for a tolerance through the arts project. Busboys and Poets now has a few locations in DC. The business owner provides an atmosphere for freedom of expression with a progressive attitude. It's a book store, cafe, and restaurant all rolled into several conveniently located places. They frequently host open mic nights, book signings, readings, and other small concerts. The food is also quite delicious.

All those who were involved in the program had dinner up in the loft. We got to sit back and enjoy each others' company. Then we went downstairs to a private room and began the part of the night where six of the delegates gave presentations on their work. I'd like to talk about each delegate and their presentation.

Delegate #1 (I shouldn't give names) is a designer and advertiser who specialized in printmaking in school. Every detail of their work is full of metaphors and hidden meaning. Their company is changing the way traditional things like greeting cards, calendars, and stationary are presented and accepted. It's incredible and I'm seriously contemplating hiring them to create a print to fill one of my empty white walls in my room. Maybe if I get a raise...

Delegate #2 is a news reporter. They showed a video clip of all the endeavors of their network. For a small country, they have a lot of ambition. They have four channels that are part of their network and they are all publicly funded--like having four PBS channels. One of the channels is completely dedicated to arts projects. One of my coworkers is from the same country as #2 and he said that they are famous back home. I guess if you're a news anchor, then people will know your name and face. But when it's for a kind of PBS, I feel admiration for the country and for their devotion to building up appreciation for the arts.

Delegate #3 is a new media designer and entrepreneur, but most importantly...a comedian. They are somehow able to speak with an American accent and they claim that it is only from watching so much American TV. Ha! #3 grew up as a foreigner in their own country, because their parents were foreigners. As a comedian, they believe that you have to know about the cultures to be able to make fun of them. I like their attitude of making fun of themselves as well as the culture they have been immersed in for their entire life. They criticize and make humorous the idiosyncrasies from both sides of the culture scheme.

Delegate #4 is an artistic director for an art association with international goals and concepts. Since the art they promote is promoted over many countries and cultures, they can more easily share ideas and work towards promoting tolerance through those images and ideas. I wish I could tell you more about Delegate #4's background because I think it would prove even more that this group of individuals is truly amazing.

Delegate #5 was not actually nominated for this program like the rest of the delegates. #5 won their way here by participating in a video contest. The challenge was to create a five-minute or less presentation on the subject "My Culture + Your Culture = ?" #5 put an awesome music video together with a team of friends. I think their solution to the equation was "World of Wonder" or something like that. #5 is super cool because they actually work as a software developer and they use the web and social media platforms to promote cross-cultural understanding. And of course, they use music too. #5 performed the song for us and it was just awesome!

Delegate #6 appeared to be the most well-spoken and well-educated delegate. As a journalist who is very gifted with speech and writing, they are the most valuable asset for artists and all those who are using the arts to promote tolerance. #6 is a journalist and writer and is able to subtly gain the backing and momentum needed for their ideas to be heard and accepted. #6 is not an artist in the conventional way of producing an appealing product or performance; #6 is gifted in the art of persuasion through writing and speech. #6 did not perform, but told their story and how they decided to promote tolerance through the medium of the arts.

The night ended with a performance by a local DC musician named Afi. She is a neo soul singer and you can find her music on itunes. She sang a song called "Free Yourself." (I think)


So now back to the issue of tolerance itself. Many of the delegates were not pleased with the word tolerance. Tolerance is just not enough for them. Many of them come from minorities where tolerance means you are not accepted. I can see exactly where they are coming from, because I have felt a distinct difference between the two words in my own life. In the time surrounding the Prop 8 decision, I spoke or corresponded with several people who felt that as a Mormon I was not being tolerant of the LGBT lifestyle. In contrast, I felt very strongly that I could be tolerant of the people who choose to live that lifestyle, but I would never accept it as something that is right. And of course I could never accept it as something that should be promoted by the government as a normal social practice. So acceptance will never be possible for me on this subject. The conflict between Arabs and Jews or Israel and Palestine must be met by tolerance--it will never be met by acceptance. Acceptance condones the beliefs or behaviors and honestly, there are just too many differences. The conflicts are fact against fact and there is no way of compromising on believed truths.

One might wonder then why we should promote tolerance at all. If acceptance is an impossible goal, why should we strive for tolerance? I would argue that tolerance is the least we can do towards promoting peace. If we're promoting tolerance, then we're not condoning hate and violence. If we're promoting tolerance, then we're not giving heed to the seeds of prejudice that are planted in our minds through our societies and cultures. Tolerance was never meant to be synonymous with acceptance. Tolerance is only a means to end the pain and sorrow; it cannot replace the pain and sorrow with happiness. The happiness comes later with peace and understanding.

I didn't tell the delegates about my opinion on this. I hope they will take pleasure in the fact that I strive to be tolerant and remove any inklings towards hate or prejudice. That is the best I can do since I will never be able to accept things that I believe are wrong. Anyway, I feel I might be rambling now.


Here is Delegate #5's award-winning music video. BEWARE: The song can be extremely catchy and I may or may not have had it stuck in my head all week.



Oh and I guess I lied and I don't have any pictures of that night. All the pics were form earlier in the day so I didn't bother to include them. Oops!

beck