Meaning of being liberal

I read this message on someone's Facebook wall. This message does a pretty good job of explaining the meaning of being liberal as well as some problems liberals face in our society, it also tries to clear some misconceptions about the term tolerance. Being tolerant doesn't mean being weak or submissive, rather one needs to be very strong-minded to be tolerant and liberal. Most people who make fun of the non-violence philosophy try to equate tolerance with weakness or cowardliness but in reality, it's exactly the opposite. I consider myself a liberal and open-minded person, by this I mean a person who respects other individuals on equal terms regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or any other difference; and who is willing to listen to others' views and share my views in a democratic and civilized way. I believe in discussions, debates, and dialogues rather than forcing my opinion on others. I also believe that there can be more than one right answer or solution to the same problem. Behaving as if my way is the only right way is not my habit but that doesn't mean I accept whatever others say even if I don't agree. If I don't agree with certain things I make sure to express my disagreement in a civilized way, being liberal and tolerant doesn't mean agreeing and accepting each and everything thrown at you.

I also believe that people can live peacefully and work for the betterment of society even if they don't agree on some issues or have differences of opinion. We can always agree to disagree with each other and move on. This is very important for any civilized society. Many people, especially in the comment section of some blog posts expect that as I claim to be liberal and open-minded I should accept their views as correct views and also accept my mistakes (that I was wrong as my views didn't match with theirs). They wish me to align my views with theirs because I claim to be liberal. They also question me objecting to some famous personality's opinion, they claim it's an insult to that person. According to them, being liberal means arbitrarily respecting everyone and accepting everything. Basically, they want liberals not to challenge anyone and respect each and everything. As an open-minded person, I am willing to listen to their views and ideas but I have no obligation to agree with them or with anyone if I don't find those things right. I also believe that there are some things that no one should tolerate like gender discrimination, racism or casteism, sexual abuse, terrorism, etc. But people support these things directly or indirectly and I am willing to listen to them but I just can not agree that these things in any form are acceptable.

I guess many people have serious misconceptions about what is meant by being liberal. It does mean being open to all ideas and views but that doesn't mean one should also accept them. Liberals can very much disagree and oppose views and ideas with which they don't agree but the major difference is they don't just want to silence the people who voice ideas by force but want to debate and challenge those views. They believe in change via debates and discussions. They believe in constructive criticism and dialogue but at the same time, there are certain things on which they can't compromise. They also have their own beliefs. But according to me the major difference between liberals and hardcore conservatives is, that liberals acknowledge that there can be differences of opinion and there can be disagreements on some issues, we can have debates or discussions about them and we can live together peacefully even with all our differences. A tolerant society is a type of society where everyone has the right to express their opinion, and at the same time, everyone has the right to question. People are allowed to question anything and everything. Once we understand this then no matter who we are, liberal or conservative, we all can live together peacefully.

Thanks for reading and please share your views regarding this topic.

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[Copyright for text: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]