Blind Hate

Tensions are high everywhere as a result of the war in Israel. War is divisive in nature, and even those who are not involved in war fall victim to it.

Even in the United States, across the globe from where the conflict is happening, hate has been spreading.

Hate is especially divisive during war because people find scapegoats to project blame and fear on. People also generally only support one side and ignore wrongdoings of one side and find justification by the actions of the opposing side. This is cyclic and is precisely why hate is able to spread so easily.

As the world has become more interconnected through social media and globalization, it has only become easier for misinformation and hate speech to be shared.

On October 30th, a threat was made to Cornell University. A serious threat being made so close to home is a cause for concern as it shows that dangerous mindsets are present.

The violent threat launched a police investigation into who made it and left Jewish students fearing for their safety. The threat named one building in particular which is now under the surveillance and protection of guards.

On November 1st, Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York, made a post on popular social media platform X. In her post, she said that if you come across an “incident of hate or discrimination” you can call or send a message to the NYSHumanRights account.

We all are constantly making impacts on those around us. Whether purposefully or not, we affect others. It’s important to take action and stand up for others. We can be the change needed to stop the senseless spread of hate.

A life lesson that we all need to work on applying in our everyday life is to get multiple perspectives on issues. Too often do we attempt to understand issues from only one perspective. It’s important to not only understand the history of issues, but how other people feel about them. Taking into account how other people feel and grasping the idea that different people have different and valid opinions is crucial for this.