Newcastle philosopher Dr Russell Blackford believes that more and more often in modern society, people feel like they're walking on eggshells in social situations. It's a growing occurrence that he's researched, discussed with many people and has even written a second book about. This is the post liberal world we now live in, he explains to me over a coffee at The Press Book House in Newcastle's CBD.
"If people say the wrong thing, they're going to get into trouble. They'll have others who not just disagree with them but are prepared to abuse them, to break up friendships, to ostracise. There is a lot of intolerance of disagreement," he says. "I am not as optimistic as I was when I wrote my previous book a few years ago, The Tyranny of Opinion. I don't see a simple way of getting through what we've now reached in terms of that polarisation and intolerance. That is bleak."
In January Dr Blackford's latest book, How We Became Post-Liberal: The Rise and Fall of Toleration became available in Australia and New Zealand. It was released in the rest of the English speaking world in November of 2023. He has readers and fans all over the world.
The pressure towards intolerance has always existed in the world, he tells me.
"There's a long history to this, not that we were ever truly liberal. Sometimes people will say to me, 'well, if you think that we're post liberal, you must think that there was one some sort of golden age when we're liberal', I don't really think that. We never really got to that point. But I do think we were headed in that direction."
When he says liberal, what he means is a varied political tradition that goes back to early modern times, but becomes something that's self-identified as 'liberal' in the 19th century.
"So toleration, liberty, meliorism, that sense of believing that progress is possible," he says of this specific definition of liberal. "The whole range of values and ideas to do with the rule of law, the idea of resisting arbitrary power. Connected to all that is the idea of social pluralism, that we're not all going to be the same. There will be different groups in society who do have different ways of life, different values."
The Tyranny of Opinion is about the phenomenon of intolerance and how society requires people to toe the line on what they do, what they think, what they say. Prior to the mid '70s, he felt society was headed in a direction of becoming more tolerant. Now, according to his book, that's no longer the case.
After The Tyranny of Opinion came out, Dr Blackford wanted to know where and how this intolerance came about, with tolerance meaning being prepared to put up with things that you object to in some way. He spent years researching the history of toleration as a political and social practice and tolerance as an individual characteristic. This led to his latest book How We Became Post-Liberal: The Rise and Fall of Toleration.
"It's a fascinating history," he says. "It is illuminating and helpful to see something of how it came about, and how it really didn't have to come about."
Things seem bleak, but it's not all gloom and doom. It's important to understand the situation we're in and that it didn't, and doesn't have to be this way.
"There have been situations historically where tolerance of one kind or another has been managed. And where ideas of toleration have been encouraged and affirmed, understanding that itself, can make us feel more like the situation can be turned around. I think just getting people to understand that this isn't something that has to be, or that had to be in history. That in itself, is helpful," he says.
Dr Blackford will discuss his new book with me on Thursday, February 29, at The Base Health in Newcastle West for a new event called Common Ground. I'll also speak with him, political scientist Dr John Tate and psychiatrist Caroline De Vries on a panel about today's problems in communicating across moral and political divides. Tickets are $5 and audience participation is encouraged. Dr Blackford's new book will be available to purchase through local bookseller Betty Loves Books.
Search "Common Ground Newcastle" on Facebook or Instagram to learn more.
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