Intolerant intolerance

This news report and others were pleased to use Wintour's statement in her speech: 'This much I think is clear to anyone who understands the spirit and the joy of the game. Intolerance has no place in tennis'.

Again there was no effort to demonstrate Wintour's own intolerance.

In this article I point to an apparent lack of discernment by journalists into the nature of intolerance that Wintour actively perpetrated. She practised the very thing she complained about with Margaret Court and Scott Morrison.

Let me explain!

Intolerant intolerance

Dr Jeremy Sherman exposed the nature of Wintour's intolerant intolerance with examples from other situations that can be applied specifically to Wintour's proclamation at the speech delivered at the Australian Open Inspirational Series in Melbourne on 24 January 2019.

• "It's true. We shouldn't tolerate intolerance. We should nip it in the bud, set clear boundaries."
• "If we tolerate intolerance it spreads: Racism, sexism, prejudices of all sorts, judgmentalism, negativity, bigotry, factions squaring off and fighting: right vs. left, this fundamentalism vs. that."
• "An eye for an eye just leaves the whole world blind."
• "To bring about greater harmony we must all of us be tolerant. No exceptions. Loving, listening, caring for each other, respecting each other's opinions whatever they may be."

Sherman exposed our hypocrisy when we try to tolerate certain behaviours yet name others as being intolerant. He said the 'truest practical question' is 'not whether to be tolerant or intolerant but when to be which'.

So far, I have not noticed the mass media I read expose Wintour's intolerance of her own views – against Margaret Court's and Scott Morrison's views.

Sherman rightly exposed the dilemma: 'Folks who don't notice the hypocrisy don't appreciate the bind we're all in and they cut themselves unconscionable slack. They manage the bind ineptly at best, self-servingly at worst, telling people not to be judgmental when they're being criticized, and not noticing they're being judgmental when criticizing others'.

In applying this to Wintour's speech content, Wintour didn't seem to be aware that she herself was intolerant towards Margaret Court's and Scott Morrison's values. It would been startling to hear Wintour admit: 'I oppose Court's views on homosexuality, but in saying that, I'm making an admission this is an intolerant statement I'm making'.

It would have been even more remarkable to hear Wintour admit: 'We live in a free society where freedom of religion and thought are allowed. It shouldn't be surprising that a modern society like ours accepts homosexual behaviour, but I should not lambast Margaret Court's worldview as that would demonstrate my intolerance'.