Liberal tolerance paradoxically justifies violence against the allegedly intolerant

Evidence

Tolerance here is invoked as a key value of liberal Western culture. Yet, paradoxically, maintaining a tolerant culture requires violence in order to root out intolerance. The parallel here is that Western individuals are identified as uniquely capable of compassion. As a result, compassion is invoked to root out those in whom it is absent. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 695

Categorization

• XREF: Links to Said’s orientalism logic and to the ADDENDUM article on moral panics over immodesty — both about how Western self-image legitimizes intervention. — connects to: Lawmakers and the public label any non-accepted protest as violent — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2596; Liberal tolerance means treating opponents as legitimate enemies, not neutralizing conflict — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 459