Wendy BrownThinkers

Tolerance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a tool with which to manage the threat of difference as a genial neighborly value while clearly serving more ominous political purposes of stratification, licensing and regulation.

Tolerance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠like patience, necessitated by something one would prefer did not exist. It is ultimately a strategy for coping rather than an offer of resolution or transcendence.

Tolerance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a word which, a generation ago, was code for 'mannered racialism' and 'polite racism.' Today it is a key liberal virtue of Western society.