On Tolerance

“[T]olerance was, at least in theory, based on the proposition that men were (potential) individuals who could learn to hear and see and feel by themselves, to develop their own thoughts, to grasp their trite interests and rights and capabilities, also against established authority and opinion. This was the rationale of free speech and assembly. Universal toleration becomes questionable when its rationale no longer prevails, when tolerance is administered to manipulated and indoctrinated individuals who parrot, as their own, the opinion of their masters, for whom heteronomy has become autonomy.”

Pg. 90 of Marcuse, Herbert. 1965. “Repressive Tolerance.” Pp. 81-117 in A Critique of Pure Tolerance, edited by R. P. Wolff, B. R. Jr., and H. Marcuse. Boston: Beacon Press.