Les Bonnes Choses

This evening, on Ideas, a program on CBC Radio 1, they were discussing the topic of tolerance. I don't generally listen to that program, but it was kind of interesting in that it would be the kind of discussion into which I wouldn't mind being inserted. I don't know if it was a rerun, but I kept waiting for someone to make the point that tolerance implies that something needs to be tolerated -- which can be offensive, if you think about it. For example, to proudly advertise that you are tolerant of religions other than your own implies that there is something you find to be repugnant about these other religions, but you stoically tolerate them, as one might tolerate a bad smell or something. What is the right way to go about deciding as a society what sorts of actions and beliefs should be tolerated anyways? It's all really tricky. I will need to get this all figured out before I make my bid to become a benevolent dictator.