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.
