Show Your Humanity
BY CANSU ORANÇ (PSYC/IV)
oranc@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Commonly misattributed to Voltaire
What would you think about an elementary school religion teacher in Turkey with a same-sex sexual orientation? According to Turkish law 1702, this was "unchastity" and that teacher was dismissed from his profession 10 years ago. I want to underline that, so far as the newspapers wrote, there was no child abuse involved. He was blackmailed in his village over his sexual orientation. This incident resulted in him losing his job forever, moving to three different cities, and losing his friends as well as being rejected by his mother. On the websites of newspapers, many people posted irritated comments about the contradiction between being a Muslim religion teacher and having a same-sex sexual orientation. However, I want to approach this incident from another perspective, from a window where I see intolerance everywhere.
To a certain extent, I'm equating the incident above with the bloody battle at the beginning of Bursaspor-Beşiktaş game played last Sunday and the pounding of university students by the police. I'm aware that each incident has its own story, but for me, they all have a common point: lack of tolerance of others' ideas and choices.
We don't show tolerance for people who have a same-sex sexual orientation, who support another team than us, who think differently than we do. We don't show tolerance to those who are different. It doesn't have to be about ethnicity, sexual orientation, or anything else so fundamental. It can be someone from your class who doesn't share your opinion, for example. I'm not only talking about individual intolerance but also societal intolerance as well. What happened to that elementary school teacher is an example of societal intolerance.
Expressing your opinion and defending it doesn't need to hurt another, physically, verbally, or psychologically. You don't have to agree with others' opinions, but you DO have to respect their right to have their own opinion, just as you have a right to yours. The kind of tolerance I'm talking about is not something you show because you are superior to a person or because your ideology/opinion is superior to theirs. It doesn't include pity or sorrow. It's something that shows your equality. It's something that shows your humanity.