We are living in a highly polarized society where people think only their way of living and their ideology is right, and society should run only in that way or only their ideology should be followed. But they forget that there are multiple ways of living.

This extreme attachment to their ideas and way of life affected our politics, society, and religion, leading to the breakdown of families and friendships. People have ideas about how an ideal society should be and work to bring these ideas into reality. In this process, we forget that other people also have their own ideas. Instead of discussing, debating, and convincing, we try to impose and cancel each other's ideas.  And various reports indicate that our society's cancellation culture is growing.

When we travel, we see different cultures, social practices, religions, food habits, languages, and dressing styles that are alien to the outsider. Traveling doesn't mean just visiting tourist places; it goes beyond that, and we experience how people live in other societies. How different is their social system from ours? We engage with them, see their way of life, social system, and other practices, and listen to their ideas. then it can increase our tolerance level; different studies also suggest the same.

We see violence happening in our society in the name of cow protection. One community treats the cow as a sacred animal, and others see it as just an animal that can be used for eating. One community wants to impose its way of life on others. No one is stopping you from worshiping the cow, but it is also expected that you will not interfere in the affairs of others. But it is not happening. How can we become so intolerant? We do not want to see other people's lives.

In every society, there are liberals and conservatives. Liberals believe their way of life is correct, while conservatives believe theirs is. For example, think about two different groups of girls who come from different socio-economic backgrounds. One group prefers to wear a hijab, while another does not. We can debate and discuss this issue, as well as present arguments in support of our positions. But no group can impose their ideas on another group. It is their personal choice whether you wear a hijab or not. We can debate and ask whether it is truly their choice. Because choice comes with an option. Even if it is not their genuine preference, one group cannot impose its ideas on the other. But this is not happening because both groups believe that only their way of life and ideas are correct and attempt to cancel out the other. They use majoritarian, legal, and economic power to accomplish this. They do not believe in debate or deliberation.

But why is intolerance increasing in society? The first reason is that people don’t engage with other ideas, cultures, and societies because of technological design. Social media’s algorithm doesn’t promote diversity. If you engage with one kind of thing on social media, it has been designed in such a way that you will be constantly feeding the same or related thing again and again. And you do not have a chance to engage with others.

The second reason is political parties' extreme ideological positions. In today's world, political parties are taking firm positions on a variety of political, social, and economic issues. For that, they are using social media extensively. That’s why their supporters and workers have very little knowledge about the other side. The third reason is that there was no centralized authority in prehistoric times. We were living in a stateless society. State governments established centralized authority. The state can be defined as a political society with a formal structure of coercive power and the use of legitimate violence. And most of the states want to kill diversity because uniformity helps them have a smooth administration.

So, there are strong forces in our society that want to kill diversity and polarize society for their own benefit, and as a result, intolerance is growing in our society. Whatever ways we have available to combat this, we should use them, and traveling is one of them.