I Never Thought I Would Feel Betrayed in My Own Country

Reflection on democracy, disagreement, and what home means

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In 1945, the philosopher Karl Popper published The Open Society and Its Enemies, in which he spoke, among other things, about the paradox of tolerance.

The paradox is simple: if a society is too tolerant of intolerant individuals, it risks allowing the emergence (and dominance) of intolerant principles. This leads to the collapse of tolerance if such principles take over. In other words, a society — let’s say a democratic one — aims to be tolerant, as it should.

But where does it draw the line?

If it extends goodwill to those who are aggressive and extremist (because, after all, they too have the right to express their opinions and exercise their freedoms), then it risks transforming itself — perhaps to the point of eradication or, at the very least, of altering its democratic character. For what kind of democratic society is, in fact, extremist and driven by hate?

At the same time, what kind of democracy can tape shut people’s mouths, build an impenetrable wall between right and wrong, between the tolerant and the intolerant, when it’s meant to be an open society where freedom of speech and action are treated with a kind of sanctity? In theory, things…