I suppose it depends on the definition of peace. If you take it as the absence of organized physical violence, then you can still have diversity and peace. Also, it's very difficult to build tolerance without peace first. X3

That is true. I kinda went off of the line in Rent (rock opera musical, if you haven't seen it), "The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation". Every book about a 'peaceful' future I've ever read entails everyone being equal, but at the same time losing all of what makes them unique and human. After seeing this whole Hamas/Israel thing go down, I don't think that people have it in them to create a world where people don't fight and you can be yourself. It is true, though. I didn't think of that. XD

Yeah, I've often thought that if humans ever manage to stop killing each other over such things, they will cease to be human (not in a bad way necessarily, just that being human entails violence).

That whole question of tolerance and being yourself is a very interesting one. What does a tolerant person do about intolerant people? People for who "being yourself" means forcing their ideas on others? To be truly tolerant, you'd need to accept them, right? But if you do, they either push you out or otherwise hijack the society. So to maintain tolerance, you need to be intolerant of intolerance. To force your own ideas onto everyone else, which is exactly what you were objecting to in the first place.

Right around here is where my brain usually melts, but it's still fascinating to try and figure out a workable answer. X3

Same. It's a mind melting question that I think will deserve a Nobel Prize (or whatever's beyond that) if someone manages to solve it. I long for a place where everyone can be themselves without being beat up for it, but it's just not a part of human nature. The best we can do it to try to be nice to other people and stand up for those who are being bullied.
I think this proves that humans are (for the most part) fundamentally awful people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yPzMXLenzw
(I know that h show is his opinion, but what he has to say in this episode hits home pretty well: when allowed to be anonymous, with no consequences for being harmful, rude, or bigoted, humans just fight, argue, and insult each other over why their OPINION is right.) I'm guilty of it, too, we all are, but it is disheartening.

Heh, amusing vid there. On the other paw, there is something of a presort going on; if a particular venue is vile, non-vile people will probably avoid it, skewing the sample.

But yeah, people are people, and trying not to be one is probably one of those futile but still worthwhile things. *nods*

Touche. It could be a bit skewed, I didn't think of that. But I've also seen other horrible stuff from other places on the internet as well.
Truthfully, it's a goal we strive for, but we as humans can probably never attain. In Judaism, when you mess up, people don't tell you you're going to hell or something like that. Instead, there is a 'Day of Atonement' where you acknowledge that you have 'missed the mark', and you are supposed to apologize to everyone you have wronged. I think that is the way to live, not by condemning people to hell for messing up. Nobody's perfect, and other people should respect that. (There is a line of reasonableness, of course. There's a difference between insulting someone and killing their friend)

That does sound like a much more productive and reasonable approach than some of the alternatives. The whole hell concept always seemed odd to me anyway. If a god wanted to scare his followers into good behaviour, it'd be much more effective to do whatever to them while they were still alive and other people could see it and know it was real. X3

Agreed. People will be bad unless you give them incentive not to be. Have you read Freakonomics? It's a great book about incentives. And out of curiosity, are you atheist/agnostic/non-religious? I'm an agnostic Jew (I know it sounds weird, but it works), and it's refreshing to not meet a Christian who wants every Muslim dead, or the like.

I've heard of it, but not read it. And I'm mostly atheist with vague little bits of animism that keep creeping in here and there. I've never really looked into Judaism much; is there a particular reason agnosticism would seem strange coupled with it?

It's a fantastic read, definitely pick it up if you get the chance. It would seem strange because Judaism is based on the Torah, the Hebrew version of the Old Testament, which is based around God. I believe in the Jewish values and traditions, but not in its God. I also find some animism in my spirituality, mostly stuff based on Warriors (StarClan, etc.).

Ah, got it. I was just wondering if there was anything stranger seeming about it than Christian agnostics or whoever. :3 And I can respect that. Everyone has to live by some set of values that make sense to them, whatever the source.

It's refreshing to talk to another intelligent human being who has calm and rational thoughts, and can share them with others in complete sentences with proper spelling and grammar. I can't tell you how many stupid comments (and people) I've seen on the Internet. I honestly never expected to meet another human who was capable of writing with proper grammar. XD

Wat? U think us internets people r dumb? X3

lol we r so funnies i cant even