On Hatred

Someone was writing about people hating people for no reason. In most situations of hatred there is a reason, and some reasons are better than others. Sometimes there is a legitimate grievance. Sometimes there is disapproval for how the other person is behaving. And then there are situations of misunderstanding or bad thinking.

I have had hatred of a lot of people, and I found it hard to bear. I admire Bill Clinton, because he had the hatred of many but did not wish them ill in return. He considered the interests even of people who hated him in formulating his public policy. People thought that he lacked character. It takes a strong character to endure people’s hatred and still strive for their best interests.

A former friend of mine, who is an astrologer, wrote that love is beautiful and hatred is ugly, and never the twain shall meet. In fact there are many cases in which the twain do meet. Many people both love and hate their partners or their parents. Many people love their country and hate other countries. Many people love God and hate Satan.

Once, someone was claiming essentially that I was a neanderthal because I loved some people and had negative attitude toward others. Most people like some people and dislike others. There are saints who love everyone and there are Marilyn Manson types who hate everyone; but in most cases we find a mix. Disliking some people is not disliking all of them. In this situation, love and hate do meet.

So for example Donald Trump was accused of being a misogynist because he called a woman a dog. Once again, disliking one woman does not mean disliking all of them. A woman is not a misandrist because she would call Ted Bundy a dickhead.

Can hatred be done away with? I don’t think it can ever be done away with conclusively, but things can be done to reduce it to a manageable level. It is said that never are people so vicious as when they consider themselves to be righteous, and hatred that claims to be righteous must be shown to in fact be unrighteous. So when people express hatred against the Jews, showing their arguments to be a lie stands to defeat the problem. And when a relationship partner hates the other partner and sees her as a bad person even while he is getting a lot out of the relationship, it must be shown just how much he owes the other partner and how wrong it is for him to be hateful of her.

Hatred, as such, is a bad thing; but there can be all sorts of reasons for it. It is important to understand the reason and act accordingly. When the reason is known, it can be addressed. In most of these cases the person is not evil, just wrong. And it should be possible to work with people to solve such situations.