Can an individual be accused of being intolerant if they do not tolerate people who are intolerant?

Answer 1

That's the classic paradox

Is this sentence false" "This sentence is false." If it's true, it's false. if it's false, it's true.

or there's a barber in a small town. He cuts the hair and only the hair of customers who don't cut their own hair Does the barber cut his own hair? If he does he's cutting the hair of someone who cuts his own hair. IF he doesn't cut his own hair he's not cutting the hair of everyone who doesn't cut their own hair.

If you tolerant the intolerant, you allow intolerance but if you are intolerant of the intolerant, you're intolerant. Either way you're intolerant. yet you claim to be tolerant. It can't be both. You painted yourself into a corner with no way out.

Also known in philosophy and logic as the Russel Zermelo Paradox. Is the set of all sets that are not members of the set, a member of the set? It can't be a member, but it can't not be a member.

There a number of similar paradoxes.

The most unintersing integer paradox

or maybe Arrow's Voting paradox, that no method of social choice can satisfy basic rational axioms, without a contradiction. Thus, democracy is an irrational contradition, and impossible . Although there's an endless literature trying to avoid the contradiction, under specific limited circumstances.

If you're tolerant, but not tolerant of intolerance, don't feel like it's your fault you can't solve an ancient paradox that logicians have trouble with. Although it may depend on just how intolerant you are of intolerance. Dont' be more intolerant than the intolerant. It's that proportionality in sentencing or self defense. If someone slaps you, you don't have the right to shoot them. Proportional response has limits. You don't as a judge give the shoplifter of a $10 item the death penalty, Intolerance comes in degrees. You can't be more intolerant of intolerance of a degree that's less than your intolerance of their intolerance.

There's a hierarchy of intolerance, starting with your private thoughts, your public thoughts, your public words, and your public actions that hurt people. We can tolerate most lower level intolerance, but not the higher order actions that hurt people.