Pages

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Hating Hate

The politics of hate and fear is an easy cause to advance. Decide on your goal, dehumanize the oppoisition , appeal to base emotions, and brand anyone who might disagree with you as a traitor to the cause. But how should progressive forces respond to such an agenda? How do we advance a completely different set of values without succombing to the temptation of hating the hate?

The key problem with hating hate is that one hate doesn't negate the other. No, all you end up with is more hatred. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

While, in the abstract, this is all well and good, how do we accomplish defeating hate with love? As mentioned in the previous entry today, how does a peace community stand up in love against Nazi sympathizers to say we reject your message?

There are no easy answers and, because of this, the peace and social activist community continues to discuss and grapple with appropriate responses.

I have no easy answers as well, but I do know one thing. Martin Luther King, Jr. and countless others through the ages are correct -- We can't hate the hate. We can reject the message. We can object to the consequences hate begets. We can try to do everything in our personal and collective power to try to influence this world to embrace itself. We can and should do all these things, but we must not add more hate to existing hate.

To do so will bring us the exact opposite of what we yearn for.

8 comments:

  1. Good question. I don't have the answer either, but you're right that countering hate with hate is not productive. Martin Luther King's approach pays off in the long run. I forget where I read it, but somebody said "how many American streets are named Sheriff Bull Connor Boulevard?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's the difference between "hating the hate" and "rejecting the message" ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sara,
    From my perspective, hate is an all out word. When we hate, it's hard (if not impossible) to hone in on particular things. Hate is to despise with great animus. We might like to think that we just hate the behavior or action, but, too often, it means we strongly despise everything about an idea, including the person espousing it.

    It is far easier for a person to reject the words or behavior of another without hating the person themselves. Following the example of MLK or Jesus, I can say I reject the Nazi message, while I don't hate the people advocating the message.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bill White -- I think you are just baiting Trey
    If you have been reading about the people on old
    J. Edgar Hoover's hit list, you havn't learned to decipher the code it was written in. Drugs means he was known to take aspirin, he occasionally enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner and he was seen kissing a lady on the cheek. Back then everyone Hoover didn't like was a Communist except the owners of the Jewish press. they were greedy capitalists.
    What would J.Ed have said about Jesus? For that matter, what would he say about Bill Smith?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dino,
    I think you're correct. Mr. White is trying to bait me and it won't work. His comment epitomizes the hate I've been writing about.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've always thought bigotted hate was caused mainly by insecurity, as people who hate seem to feel threatened by someone else or some other group. They are insecure in who they themselves are, so hate fags, Jews, blacks women or whatever to try and gain prominence on the dogpile. These same people are the ones who are more than willing to be abused and taken for fools by those they see as their "betters" or somehow "stronger" alpha types.

    How do you respond with love? By recognizing the insecurity and perhaps helping them deal better with their own insecurities. Let them have their protests, and instead of yelling back, just smile, point, laugh, take pictures, and treat them as a curiousity. This will fuel their insecurity over this activity. Then, when they stop, praise them for deciding to be human once again.

    As I used to tell my own kids when they were bullied, if you stop responding, they'll stop bullying you. By becoming angry in turn, you fuel their hate. By becoming amused, you let them know what they doing is simply childish and insecure.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know it's kinda late/tardy, but I think Hate is a very simple device of the human spirit:

    Hate is so very seductive because...*whispering* "We love to hate others"

    *GASP!!!* NO! NO WAY FLOUNDER!

    Yep, Hating is addictive...it's born out of anger and envy..it's born out of a sense of injustice and self-righteousness. In short, when you Hate someone, it is the ultimate "I'm completely right and YOU are completely wrong" statement. It is extremely tempting because we like to feel as though we're right and we're the GOOD person.

    Hate is the utter demonization of someone..you can't look at them without wanting to spit in rage...you can't think of them without wanting to imagine how you can take a frying pan and cave in their head...etc.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Flounder,
    Great points! It's never to late to comment.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.