Anglo-Saxons and English Tolerance

There is a difference between traditional English tolerance and the modern British version.

A few years ago, the UK Government defined British values. These included:

• the rule of law

• individual liberty

• democracy

• tolerance

All these are rooted, in some way, in the Anglo-Saxon world. But even with that, the premise of British tolerance is very different to English tolerance.

English Tolerance

The idea of English Tolerance came out of the Anglo-Saxon period. Living on an island, where all the Saxon tribes were balanced in relative strength, tolerance was an important value in keeping communities together. In the villages and towns, Anglo-Saxons also lived amongst other indigenous tribes and to avoid minor conflicts, a particular kind of tolerance developed.

Simply put, English tolerance is about ignoring others. Not poking one’s nose in other people’s business. The notion to avoid conflict by being ignorant of each others own personal lives, kept the peace.

Modern British Tolerance

The value of English tolerance continued through the post-Anglo-Saxon kingships and cultures until the present day. But in the Late-Modern era, it evolved. Whereas, it was about ignoring others and allowing people to get on with their lives without harassment, it now involved an element of acceptance.

The British value of tolerance includes mutual respect and acceptance. This is where we accept other people’s opinions as valid as our own and respect them, just as they accept and respects ours.

Repressive Tolerance

In the Post-Modern period, tolerance developed further to include the concept of Repressive Tolerance. This came out of the writings of Herbert Marcuse.

In his view of tolerance, it is not enough to tolerate everyone’s opinions as valid as our own, but we must also repress all those views which are ‘unacceptable’. Embracing the approved point of view and strongly reject everything outside the prescribed cultural orthodoxy.

I’ll leave the question about who decides ‘what is the acceptable view’ begging as I don’t want to be drawn into making political comments. But we can clearly see how the idea of Old English tolerance struggles with the current idea of British tolerance.

Conclusion

The archaic Old English Tolerance is still alive and well. It exists underneath the British culture and I don’t think it’ll ever die out. Living in an island landscape still has a significant cultural impact, even on a modern culture like Internationalist Britain.