Ideological intolerance may
not be typically thought of as stemming from a psychological pathology from
unresolved emotional problems, especially if the ideology is classified under “political
speech.” Even so, the vehemence with which flashes of hostility are unleashed by
an intolerant ideologue against people objecting to the person’s ideology and
thus to it being imposed as if it were God’s eternal truth is plainly
psychological. Volunteering at a film festival in San Francisco in late June, 2026,
I was the receiver, or lightening rod, of such vitriol from two attendees and the
festival’s manager who oversaw the volunteers because I had unwittingly made
statements that violated the dominant ideology not only at the festival, but in
San Francisco moreover. In business schools, it is well known (or should be
well known) that an organizational culture can reflect a wider culture in the
organization’s environment. A toxic local or societal norm, which reflects values,
beliefs, and even assumptions held by a sufficient proportion of inhabitants to
gain a “critical mass,” can infect organizational cultures within the locality
or society. I contend that this dynamic applied to the Frameline (LGBT) film festival in
2026 and the wider the Castro (gay) district of San Francisco then, where the
festival was based. The same overreaching ideology and hostile defense mechanism
were salient both in the non-profit organization and, extending beyond the
Castro neighborhood, in San Francisco itself as well as in at least some of the
suburbs.
The full essay is at "San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival."
