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I just noticed that most of what I write is reactive.  Maybe I am lacking in imagination, but no subject I think of stirs me up enough to want to write.  Then I read something that makes me angry.  Or happy.  Or opinionated.  And off I go!

Instead of the traditional leggy, skinny girls, this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition includes some models that look more like normal people.  Not to say that the traditional leggy, skinny girls can’t be normal as well, but they are not the only type of people that are seen as attractive, beautiful, or sexy. 

A lovely ‘plus sized’ model named Yumi Nu’s picture was chosen for the cover of the magazine.  By plus sized, I mean about a size 12.  Very lovely looking Asian girl.

So, this Twitter ‘influencer’ and self-styled life coach, who has thousands of followers, Dr. Jordan Peterson, took it on himself to comment on the cover model.  He said:

“Sorry. Not beautiful.  And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that.”

Those are the facts.  The internet kind of exploded, and most people came down on the side of Yumi Nu, but there were lots of people who agreed with Peterson.

Fat shaming bothers me.  No big shock there.  And/or racism – because who knows what his problem with her was?  But that’s not even what I want to talk about.

My head shaking moment was the phrase “authoritarian tolerance”.  This was the first time I’d seen the phrase, but the concept has been broached a lot lately.  Apparently, any attempt to change the status quo attitude in the name of inclusion is a left-wing conspiracy being forced on everyone who wants things to remain the same.

Let’s break that down a bit, shall we?  An authoritarian regime is one in which you must follow the word of the leaders, with no room for tolerance.  But mandating tolerance is apparently what the issue is here.  Is it even possible to have authoritarian tolerance?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say.  So, if we are forcing people to tolerate something that is not beauty in the name of inclusion, who’s idea of beauty are we using as a template? We have been locked into a stereotype of beauty that no one voted on.  The media, the people in power, the creepy old guys that liked their women to have certain measurements to be attractive – they are who have decided the beauty standards we have lived with in this century, and most of the last.

If Dr. Peterson has fallen into the trap of being told what beauty is, and been unwilling to let anyone else think outside of that trap, then he is the authoritarian.  Beauty isn’t a fixed set of rules, and people’s ideas of beauty change as society changes.

Have you seen any of the paintings of nudes by the old masters?  They painted beautiful women.  But if one of those ladies were put on the cover of a magazine, would she be derided for having extra flesh, sallow skin, cellulite, or an imperfect smile?  Because at that time, those characteristics were found very attractive in a woman.

Now if, as a society, we are changing what we see as beautiful, and you aren’t evolved to that point yet, you have the right to not buy the magazine, not look at the picture, and not imagine yourself with her in your arms.

No one is mandating that Dr. Peterson think that Nu is beautiful – which I assume he thinks to be the case because of his use of that phrase ‘authoritarian tolerance’. What we are doing is mandating that he doesn’t make judgements and mock someone for being different than his idea of beauty.

There are lots of people who don’t meet my personal ideals of beauty, and that’s okay.  And if I want to talk to my friends about what characteristics I find attractive or not attractive, I have the right to do so.  But going in front of thousands of people and saying that anyone who doesn’t share my views must be the victim of forced tolerance would only prove my own attempts at authoritarianism.

No one should have to force tolerance.  Or force the appearance of tolerance, because that’s all it would be.  Tolerance is something that every one of us should have learned as a child.  Because if we aren’t tolerating others and their differences, we are saying that we are better than anyone else.  If everyone else doesn’t think the way we do, look the way we do, do the things we do, and feel the way we do, then they are less than we are, and we don’t have to give them respect or human dignity.  Further, to speak out against anyone that would treat these ‘lesser beings’ with respect and dignity, and attempt to discredit them, is authoritarian INtolerance.