Divided Languages - Across the Pond: An Englishman's View of America - page 10

Abuse
Americans, however, are more concerned than the British by another kind of speech,
namely, abusive language. Hawthorne's scarlet letter no longer stands for adultery. What
used to be argumentative is now abusive or insensitive. It is insensitive to raise your voice,
vigorously dissent, display images of emaciated African children, or criticise the conduct
of a nation in the presence of someone who supports it. In a society which finds the negat-
ive and discomforting hard to handle, anything which disturbs one's serenity can be nulli-
fied by being consigned to the category of abuse. Birds which sing too loudly at dawn are
abusive, aggressively violating one's aural spaces. People who wear bright scarlet shirts are
being visually abusive. They might even be at risk of being sued, or at least of being forced
to buy you a pair of shades. Gutters which drip water on one's head are guilty of abuse,
as are pieces of grit that are negligent enough to lodge in one's eye. They, too, may be at
risk of being taken to court. Floors which refuse to stop swaying when one is drunk can be
indicted for criminal irresponsibility.
To tell someone that their beliefs are a lot of rubbish is most certainly considered insens-
itive, even though it is an essential part of the democratic process. The idea that one should
respect other people's beliefs simply because they are other people's beliefs is plainly ab-
surd. It is like claiming that one should admire the cut of people's trousers simply because
they are people's trousers. If my beliefs are arrant nonsense, I expect you to have the de-
cency to tell me so. It would help if you did not call me a slimy little rat in the process,
but it is not indispensable. Do those who urge respect for the creed of Rastafarians extend
a similar welcome to the doctrines of the Moonies? Is the belief that men after death will
get to rule their own universe, but women will not, to be greeted with reverence simply
because it is held by Mormons? Can nothing be said to be plainly ridiculous as long as it is
touted by a minority? What about those American Evangelical sects who are preparing to
film the Second Coming, and engage in intricate technical debates about where best to set
up the cameras?
Tolerance does not mean respecting viewpoints simply because they are viewpoints. It
means accepting that ideas which make you feel sick in your stomach should be granted as
much of a hearing as those that send an erotic tingle down your spine, provided such views
do not put others at risk, and provided you have done your damnedest to argue their ad-
vocates out of their fatuous or obnoxious opinions. Otherwise you are simply buying your
tolerance on the cheap. Dismissing whatever one finds offensive as “abuse” is a distinctly
American brand of intolerance.
Volume
Americans, unlike Europeans, are generally said to be loud. In fact, the volume in Europe
is gradually turned up as you sink southwards from Sweden to Sicily. Dockers in Naples