Liberal - Are You?

A lot of people on internet claims themselves to be liberal and yet I find that they are for or against some opinion or the other. That let me to think, what does the term liberal truly mean? Are all these folks “liberal” as the publicly claim themselves to be? Can we be liberal and yet unwilling to accept something? It does sound like an oxymoron. Liberalism by it very definition should mean respect for all, even hostile opinions and ideologies.

The term Liberal is used in a very liberal sense. It should ideally mean an all-encompassing, all subscribing ideology that excludes none, has contempt for none and that is vast enough to assimilate and absorb even the meanest and vilest into its fold. That definition would certainly not fit our armchair liberals who are fighting a perceived battle with so called “intolerants”, “jingoist”, “nationalists” and others who do not share their opinion. It certainly does not mean those who use different yardsticks for judging one set of people and opinions, who are like minded to them, from another set who differ from them. In sort, liberals are not hypocrites. It also does not mean those who accuse others of intolerance but overlook the fact that in doing so they are exactly behaving in the same way, i.e. they are being intolerant towards their rivals. It does not mean anybody who indulges in accusation, counter accusation, who has inherent biases and prejudices, who is not willing to listen or accept with an open mind anything that is not according to his or her liking.

Now would our “liberal” friends come forward to call themselves liberal? Hardly likely, because they are guilty of one or more omissions and commissions in the above list and their conscience does not prick them for the same. That’s why they can call themselves as “liberal” with impunity, without even stopping to think what they have done to deserve the title.

True liberals are rishis of this age. They accept, because they know that world is not black and white. They know that everybody has faults and failures and faults and failures are stepping stones for learning. In the language of swami Vivekananda, we move from truth to truth, higher to lower truth and not from error to truth. They take a very broad view because they are able to look at things from a different level, a level from where both sides of the coin become visible. That is the reason why they are able to see different shades of colour. Therefore they do not indulge in fault finding, in blaming or in haranguing, but rather in taking a balanced and conciliatory approach. Their mission is to unite rather than to divide. So their approach is collaborative rather than confrontational. Since they have a higher view they can very easily discern the merits and demerits and would not hesitate to narrate them objectively as they do not have any selfish interest in promoting either of the viewpoints. All saints and prophets are true liberals, so are all men of wisdom who do not bother to take sides, who do not view the world through narrow sectarian prisms and who accept and love all. Nobody would be able to raise an accusing finger against a true liberal of being biased, of taking a lop sided view, of being intolerant, of nourishing and promoting hatred. It’s a long time before our arm chair liberals graduate to that level.