Tolerance II
Problems So Common
Police had mentioned that biker gangs are involved heavily in illegal drug circulation in Sydney nightclubs, where turf wars sometimes break out between rival groups.
A man was alleged beaten to death in the presence of flight passengers amidst a fight between rival motorcycle gangs in a Sydney airport.
Suggestions of the cause included agitated bikers making a ruckus well before the police were alerted due to dissatisfaction throughout their flight. It was reported that staffs of the airport noticed that the men grew aggressive during the flight and requested for other passengers to be directed away from them as they disembarked.
However, the request was still not effective enough as a grueling uproar erupted, peaking when one individual was caught in the crossfire and suffered fatal injuries in the check-in area.
An emergency call was made by a petrified passenger 15 minutes before, despite the early signs that hinted of trouble.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed his strict zero tolerance stance on gang violence.
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Examples of religious intolerance vary in different severity as well as involvement of different faith groups.
- The U.S. Federal Government received a call, requesting to annihilate all worshipers of a specific faith group.
-A proclamation was released claiming that leaders of a religion were scheming to exterminate all of the Christian leaders in America.
-A statement warning and forcing all Americans to either convert to Islamism immediately or they would have to face the punishment of having their heads chopped off.
-Declarations were made that worshiper of a certain faith group customarily torture and kill babies and commit scandalous crimes.
(Adapted from http://www.religioustolerance.org/relintol3 & http://www.nowpublic.com/ )
The Road Now Taken
What Individuals Can Do
Individuals should always practice fair judgment in their everyday life, try not to put emotions over rationality in everything they do. It is important that we remember that no one is more superior than others. We're all equals. Just because you like someone better does not mean that that individual has a better character than anyone else.
Try not to judge or condemn people based on the opinions provided by others. This merely creates potential cracks in your relationship with others.
What the Media Can Do
The media should practice promotion of positive portrayal of every culture and instill understanding and respect of it in the readers.
The more people are exposed to these positive articles, the less likely they are to picking flaws in one another, especially to those who are limited in terms of interaction with the outside world and those that are prone to relying heavily on the media.
Imagine how the media can condemn and ruin the career of a star sometimes, or push a newbie celebrity to the top of the entertainment industry with just a simple media report.
That is the extent of how influential the media is nowadays.
What the Educational System Can Do
The educational system should be more focused on ensuring that tolerance is implemented into the student’s mind and make them see that it is one of the main factors of creating a world where peaceful coexistence is possible.
An Arab and Israeli community called Neve Shalom or Wahat Al-Salam (Oasis of Peace) introduced a school aimed at promoting inter-cultural understanding in Israel. This is done by allowing first and sixth graders interact and grow together.
With tolerance, comes lesser conflict and a better environment to live and play in.
(Adapted from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/tolerance/)
Hope Of Our Future - Media Influences
In the present society, moral values seems to have become more and more unimportant to people and one of them is Tolerance. This value is one of the values that one should not take lightly of as we may hurt others unknowingly if we do not possess this value.
With the present solutions not being as effective as it should be, we have come up with measures that are generally quite possible to be used in future
We imagine that with the rapid advancement of technology, the future would have no need of newspaper, instead a digital one that is handy and light. A section related to tolerance can be created in the digitalized newspaper, where readers can select videos to watch and be educated on the crimes evoked by the lack of tolerance.
Not only so, a chip device is also created an input onto a person such that when that certain person do something that is against tolerance, the device will send out electric waves into the brain to call the person to stop.
In addition, there is a possibility whereby a microchip can be invented that detects signs of intolerance. When the chip is alerted, a signal could be transmitted to the user to let him/her know. The device can be taken out and placed on again.
Hope Of Our Future - Alarms
Technology is one of the things that we can count on that will advance with time. Teenagers these days are also relying more and more on electronic devices.
Thus, I feel that we should focus more on this aspect. Another example could be 'Anger Sensory'. This device can be worn on the wrist like a watch with wireless earphones equipped on the ears of the user.
The purpose of the invention of this product is to detect any possible rise in anger from the user. When it senses a level of anger, the detection will transmit a signal for a song to be played via the earphones.
The songs played is for the purpose of soothing and calming down the user, to prevent any possible conflict due to the individual's anger.
When the device does not detect too much anger in the user, it can be used as an music player, though the current played music will be cut off abruptly and replaced with softer music should the detector sense a rise in anger.
In Conclusion
To what extent do you place the importance of tolerance in our life? Is it merely just a polite gesture to avoid trouble only?
Well, I feel that it’s definitely more than that.
Tolerance is the ability to give and take, to allow people to make mistakes and to make mistakes without being judged.
Whether is it religious tolerance or tolerance of others’ mistakes, avoiding conflict is essential to prevent any possible fights.
Nothing can be accomplished in a group if there is no tolerance between members. Everyone has their flaws and faults, but that does not mean that we have truly understood that individual’s character. It does not give us the rights to condemn them or to ‘brainwash’ others into sharing the same train of thoughts as you do.
Every little effort brings us closer to a world where everyone is able to coexist peacefully.
