Tolerance

The meaning of tolerance: forbearance, patience. The Latin ‘tolero’ means endure, bear. It’s also translated as long-suffering. We endure so that there may be peace. I haven’t yet encountered an interpretation of tolerance – that can be taken seriously – which would translate it as “approval”. If I tolerate something, it doesn’t mean I approve of it.

Tolerance means whether I like it or not, I accept the otherness of the other. Based on mutual respect, I assume that from their perspective, they also accept my otherness. If they don’t do this, if they want me to change radically, to be like them, then they are intolerant.

So, if you expect me, a white, Christian, national and heterosexual head-of-the-family, to approve of LGBTQ+ propaganda, then you are intolerant. That is, you violate the most fundamental value of the LGBTQ+ world. Practically the foundation of your own value system.

Only totalitarian dictatorships cannot tolerate otherness. This is common in both Nazis and Communists. If you want me to take you seriously, don’t be a moral dictator. Accept that while I tolerate your otherness, I don’t approve of it. And you don’t need to morally stigmatize me for this. Tolerance therefore means that if you want to live your own life, then you let me live my own life too.

With Pride approaching, an example presents itself: who sleeps with whom and how and who lives with whom, is not a social problem, but a private matter. Homosexuality is not a culture, but a subculture. Unlike other civilizations, it is tolerated in Western civilization. No one is thrown off the roof just because they are attracted to their own gender.

Dear others, You say that homosexuality is not a disease. Not a disability. Some say it is – but decoding the ever-present message of Pride, gay people don’t see themselves this way, consequently I accept it as a fully valid life practice.

But then why do you want us to look at you as a problem?

Because this is what so-called sensitization and its sub-version targeting children is about. You want to be victims, because the culture of victimhood morally justifies what you have chosen. If it’s not propaganda, then it’s self-justification.

However, according to everyday experience, where my heterosexual eye sees homosexuality, my young child sees two people who love each other. For them, it’s natural, which it isn’t for me. They will only be shocked by it if they see, sense that I am shocked by it. So it’s not them who need to be sensitized. It should be me. But the path to this doesn’t lead through their world. In fact, a series of scandals show that it’s counterproductive.

Therefore, although in principle I have stood and stand for your right to have your say, in practice every fiber of my being protests against LGBTQ-sensitizing stories targeting young children. Somewhere here lies the limit of my tolerance. Leave our children alone.

Notes:

Linguistic notes:

The author uses the term “érzékenyítés” (sensitization), which in this context refers to efforts to increase acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, often viewed critically by conservatives.

Historical references:

The mention of Nazis and Communists refers to 20th-century totalitarian regimes, used here to criticize what the author sees as intolerance in modern progressive movements.

Social context:

“Pride” refers to LGBTQ+ Pride events, which have been controversial in Hungary in recent years.

The text touches on debates about LGBTQ+ education and representation in children’s media, a contentious issue in Hungary and other countries.