Hate is an evil, a necessary evil, and a paradox.
When I say the word, 'hate', what's the first thing that comes to mind?
Is it the KKK?
Is it Rick Santorum?
Hitler?
Or do you think of people and things that you hate?
People of certain Races?
People of certain Religions?
People of certain ideologies?
Or, maybe it makes you think of certain words or images...
"Zeig Heil!"?
Faggot?
Watermellons?
Maybe I spend too much time on social media, where everyone's voice is amplified tenfold by the broad reach of certain outlets...
I follow the news fairly closely, from a fairly wide variety of outlets. Several of my sources attract people from all across the political and social spectrum; major (trustworthy) news organizations and fact-checking sites.
Due to the broad reach of these outlets, comments abound in the threads accompanying the articles; mainly of people arguing their positions on the stories.
I see a lot of hate... I mean, BLATANT racism, homophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and every other branch of hatred you can imagine, in the commentary provided by the patrons of these outlets.
But the thing is, the hate I see sparks a hate of my own... a hatred of hate... and with the racially-charged nature of so many of today's events, I get to a breaking point, and start spewing my own very, very nasty hate... yes, I've been guilty of it, too... I've said some DOWNRIGHT EVIL things in exasperation of the way the world is rigged, and with the way that some people act like cavemen. Like many, I perceive great problems with society. Like not-so many, I view members of the KKK as unevolved STAINS on the cultural landscape, and as proof of evolution; but not necessarily proof of 'natural selection', because there are SO DAMN MANY of them!
As someone who finds racism, homophobia, and misogyny to be abhorrent, I often fall into the trap of reflecting the hate and the vitriol right back in similar fashion, with equally inflammatory language. Fueled by utter disgust for anti-intellectual troglodytes, I do what I consider to be "giving them a taste of their own medicine..."
... and therein lies both the necessary evil and the paradox...
Let's be honest, here... the biggest and most important social movements, both great and terrible, have been fueled by hate of one kind or another...
The French Countrymen hated the Aristocracy...
The Jews hated being slaves in Egypt...
The African-Americans hated Jim Crow...
... and on the contrary...
The white Southerners hate(d) the African-Americans...
The Puritans hated Witches...
Hitler hated EVERYBODY...
The paradox being, hate is every bit as necessary as it is hurtful.
I understand and appreciate your dilemma. Evil begets evil. How can it not? How can you not hate all these evil beings? Please elaborate on your statement at the end saying that hate is necessary? How and why so?
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading!
DeleteHate is necessary for two reasons.
First, the hatred of the oppressors demonstrated against the people provides the fuel for revolution. By making "poster children" of themselves, they give the people something to rally against... something tangible... something real that they can point to.
For example, the hate speech coming from Southern bigots (or bigots anywhere, really) makes it really easy to pinpoint specific segments of society that need to be targeted, in order for the necessary changes to occur.
Where would the movement against police brutality be without all the rabid, racist idiots coming out of the woodwork to side with the cops? Those are the people who allow such violence to be justified, and inelegantly show the need for change by depicting ALL black people as "thugs" and "criminals". Their blatant ignorance gives the police a base to stand behind them, which gives the rest of us something to fight.
Similarly, where would the gay rights movement be, without bigots like Rick Santorum and more recently, Roy Moore? The people who so fervently express their hatred of gay people give the rest of us something to get ANGRY about! It keeps the movement going!
Where would the Civil Rights movement be, without the Woolworth lunch counters who refused service to black people or, in a very similar way, homophobic bakers who refuse service to gay people?
The hatred of the oppressors is the FIRST way that hate is necessary. The second is the hatred of the oppressors, by the people.
Without some level of absolute hatred and disgust by those being oppressed, social movements would be very slow to move; and would probably have NO effect whatsoever. The ire of the people is NECESSARY, in order to affect the change and progress that is needed for society to become more humane.
In increasing numbers, today's movements are being fueled by hatred of religious fundamentalism (specifically, radical Christianity and Islam). This is largely because of the hypocritical, elitist oppression that these groups have demonstrated in increasing degrees over the last 30 or so years, starting with Regan/Bush's "Moral Majority", which was largely sparked by the civil rights era among people who used their faith to justify slavery and Jim Crow and then kicked into "psycho mode" by Rowe vs. Wade.
People are now starting to get disgusted by these views, to the point that hatred of Christian oppression is reaching a boiling point among Atheists, who, if they're not careful, could develop a radicalized sect, just like the people they oppose. For the mean time, though, these radical Atheists will provide a necessary counter-balance to the hate coming from the other pious radical religious people.
Hate is an emotion, no different than happiness or love. It is something that exists within all of us... even the Dalai Lama... even Gandhi... even Jesus... it's just part of being human.
We need hate to be the yang to the yin of joy. Everything must have a balance. Without it, the joy would not taste as sweet.