"The original meaning of the statement "I tolerate you" was famously (and perhaps rather extremely) expressed by Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Tolerance asserts the right to have convictions, to make judgments about right and wrong, which differ from those of others. It also asserts the right to express those views without fear. The new tolerance, however, is completely different. It seizes on the idea of offence and holds that I must not ever offend anyone else by expressing disapproval of any aspect of his or her behavior or ideas. The new tolerance approves of all absolutes except this one: you will be tolerant of everyone else's view. You must, however, be intolerant of intolerance. This means that criticism is forbidden, and must be replaced by unrestrained affirmation and praise, or silence. The new tolerance is intolerant of the old, and indeed negates it. To put it another way: the old tolerance accepted the existence of other views while disagreeing with them; the new tolerance insists on accepting the views themselves and not merely their existence. if we are not allowed to make judgments or have convictions any more, then all that is left is for us to descend to a kind of ethical neutrality. In the end, tolerance simply becomes a synonym for unconditional approval that has a powerful drive to embed the new tolerance in enforceable legislation. The new tolerance wishes to invoke the state to impose its view. It does not heed the warning of nineteenth-century philosopher John Stuart Mill about the tyranny of public opinion that stigmatizes and silences minority and dissident beliefs." (Oxford professor John Lennox)
