Repressive Tolerance
Herbert Marcuse
Repressive Tolerance
The tolerance which enlarged the range and content of freedom was always partisan - intolerant toward the protagonists of the repressive status quo. … Can the indiscriminate guaranty of political rights and liberties be repressive? Can such tolerance serve to contain qualitative social change? … When tolerance mainly serves the protection and preservation of a repressive society, when it serves to neutralize opposition and to render men immune against other and better forms of life, then tolerance has been perverted. … Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right and toleration of movements from the Left.
