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Originally Posted by hiredgun
Society has a way of balancing out its norms on its own. There are always conservative (or let's say "intolerant") ideas and more progressive, or tolerant, ones vying for acceptance in public opinion.
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i'm uncomfortable framing the discussion this way. to equate conservativism with intolerance directly and progressiveness (whatever it takes not to say "liberal" these days) with tolerance ignores the larger context of the discussion.
it's just as easy for a period of tolerance to be succeeded by a time of intolerance as it is the other way around. to say conservatism promotes intolerance is really only talking about certain issues (race/gender equality for example) at certain times (late 1800s-1970s) at a certain place (western hemisphere).
the revolutionary becomes a conservative the day after the revolution.
so if there is an optimum level of tolerance, then those who fight to keep appropriate tolerance levels once achieved have become the conservatives. those who seek to change the ideal are then the liberals.