Intolerance

Having a web site on victims of abuse, victims of rape, victims of ethnicity, and slanderous statements of one’s past would be incomplete without targeting,”Intolerance.” Intolerance of others clearly equals the uneducated. Not just formal education but experiential education and the ability to be accepting of others. There are those that I have encountered that use my past abuse as a red flag to distance, make excuses, label me unfairly and ridicule. I welcome these verbal attacks, for I realize it is based in ignorance. As Eleanor Roosevelt said,” No one can make you feel inferior unless you give them permission.”

There is intolerance of religion, which is the ultimate paradox. Wow! A Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ ridiculing other religions for they are not the TRUE RELIGION. I have been told by fundamentalist Christians that my deceased Grandmother is probably burning in Hell because she was Catholic and the Catholic ideology is not the correct ideology. What an amazing hypocritical presentation. All recipients of intolerance are victims.

Racial intolerance. An ugly misperception and distortion that is still very prevalent today. Most intolerance has been handed down from generations. These false teachings continue, and are usually a growth out of fear and feelings of one’s own inadequacies.

My own experience of intolerance deals directly with individuals who have no clue what victims of abuse have gone through.  I have been the recipient of verbal attacks, and stereotypes without anyone getting to know me or ask questions about my life trauma. Humans are a funny breed. Conclusions are drawn with no experience, and attacks are thrown out as if to protect their own fear. A typical scenario, can be anyone, any gender, with distorted, uneducated views of others. Their belief is ingrained in false beliefs usually taught to them at an early age. These individuals become scared of the unknown and react. Their reaction can be verbal acting out and in severe cases physical attacks.

Intolerance of others whether it be race, religion,or one’s past is ALWAYS harbored with little to no humility, false pride, fear of the unknown, and false teachings that occur during their youth. Combating this cannot be done with acting out in hatred for that only reinforces their opinion. Some of  the verbal attacks I have experienced are laughable. It actually humors me to hear the fear and the stupidity. I would never tell a computer expert about their speciality or an automotive mechanic on the details of transmission repair. However individuals still seem to want to be the expert on abuse and the psychological underpinnings of how that effects me, hmmmm.? Curious, is it not?

Do not allow verbal attacks to harm your soul. They are ridiculous and not based in truth. One must rise above the attacks. I have found that laughing, addressing the person directly, in a non-hostile manner, with humor usually really upsets them. They want us to over react. They want to get a rise out of us. They want to hurt. When they are not successful they become either angry or dissipate into silence and go off to another victim. Stand strong, intolerance IS changing. Our youth is becoming intolerant of the intolerance. I am hopeful in listening to teenagers and young adults speak up and educate the insecure. Someday intolerance may be close to non-existent but it will never be totally absent. Accept all ! We are all related!

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