Shashi Tharoor talks about the keys to tolerance.<br /><br />Dalia Mogahed: This might sound funny, but I don't think co-existence is the right goal. I think it's too small a goal. And I think part of the problem is that our goals are sometimes too small. <br />Now with people of different faiths clashing, sometimes it seems like a very ambitious goal just to co-exist. But I believe if we can make our goal instead active cooperation between diverse groups of people where there is actually a benefit in cooperating for everyone involved, there is an incentive for . that people feel that they are being enriched by interacting, and learning from others who are different from them. Only then will we actually have peace. <br />When our goal is the absence of the negative, any small misunderstanding will turn into a crisis. <br />Case in point is like the cartoon controversy. That might look like a very small incident from the outside, but it exploded into a global crisis. And I believe it's because there isn't enough; not co-existence; but there isn't enough active cooperation between groups. <br />And when we have that interdependence of actually benefiting by cooperating, not just co-existing, it becomes much more likely that we'll forgive these small things when they happen, but that they won't happen to begin with--because we will have an incentive to better understand each other. <br />But I believe we live--the cliché is "the global village"; but it's really true. And in the global village, there really is no other choice. It's either clash or active co-existence or active cooperation. And if we don't go for that positive, active engagement with one another, I think clash is just the inevitable outcome. <br /> <br />Recorded on: July 3, 2007. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br />Dalia Mogahed: This might sound funny, but I don't think co-existence is the right goal. I think it's too small a goal. And I think part of the problem is that our goals are sometimes too small. <br />Now with people of different faiths clashing, sometimes it seems like a very ambitious goal just to co-exist. But I believe if we can make our goal instead active cooperation between diverse groups of people where there is actually a benefit in cooperating for everyone involved, there is an incentive for . that people feel that they are being enriched by interacting, and learning from others who are different from them. Only then will we actually have peace. <br />When our goal is the absence of the negative, any small misunderstanding will turn into a crisis. <br />Case in point is like the cartoon controversy. That might look like a very small incident from the outside, but it exploded into a global crisis. And I believe it's because there isn't enough; not co-existence; but there isn't enough active cooperation between groups. <br />And when we have that interdependence of actually benefiting by cooperating, not just co-existing, it becomes much more likely that we'll forgive these small things when they happen, but that they won't happen to begin with--because we will have an incentive to better understand each other. <br />But I believe we live--the cliché is "the global village"; but it's really true. And in the global village, there really is no other choice. It's either clash or active co-existence or active cooperation. And if we don't go for that positive, active engagement with one another, I think clash is just the inevitable outcome. <br /> <br />Recorded on: July 3, 2007.
