Destiny Church members violently shut down a rainbow story time event at Te Atatลซ Library over the weekend. This action has even earned the rebuke of the Prime Minister and Mayor of Auckland who both cited respect for free speech, but said this action โwent too farโ.
The reality is that we have no obligation to tolerate the intolerant. They are using violence to shut down and silence others. The result of tolerating intolerant views is the loss of everyoneโs freedom of speech except for the one who most effectively uses violence.
This is known as the paradox of intolerance, coined by philosopher Karl Popper, who warned:
โIf we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. โ In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwiseโฆWe should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.โ
In short, we canโt tolerate nazi speech because nazis will use their speech to incite violence against others, and ultimately to make everyone who isnโt a nazi afraid to speak freely.
This argument is wrongly used by the far right* to label as โintolerantโ people who want others, for example, to use proper pronouns or pronounce Mฤori words correctly. This, they claim, is an attempt to shut down free speech.
However, being called out for being a racist or transphobic is not equivalent to being on the receiving end of racism or transphobia.
The implications of being called out for being racist or transphobic are that people might think you are a dick. They might make you feel bad about what you have said, or cause you to re-think your actions. The implications for being on the receiving end of racism or transphobia, however, are injury, trauma and even death. The reason for this is directly related to who has power in society: verbal attacks on people who are already on the margins of our society make violence towards them more likely.
This should be absolutely crystal clear from Brian Tamakiโs direction to his membership โto storm the library they’re in, and shut it downโ. His intention was that his supporters use violence if necessary to stop the freedoms of others, in particular the freedom of trans people and those who wanted to see the show.
Tolerance must be reciprocal. Free speech has limits. The far right is unprepared to extend tolerance to the existence of whole groups of people: transgender people, queer people, non-white people, Muslims, Jewish people, disabled people and others. They have voided the social contract that requires tolerance. Let us not be so naive as to protect their violent intolerance masquerading as โfree speechโ.
*We should say, the far right and their mouthpieces in so-called โfree speechโ organisations