Questions this thoughtful piece evoked: Do animals experience hate? Does a natural prey animal illicit hate in the predator or are they just seeing food? Do rival packs/troops experience hate toward their rivals? If not, is hate a defining aspect of being "human?" When someone becomes disillusioned with a hateful group and leaves it, what happens to their hate? If you switch allegiance between groups, does hate change in any way? Immediately after the 9/11 attack, many hostile groups came together against the aggressors. Does redefining groups change or defuse hate? There is so much more to understand. We all need to studying and learning about this topic.
I don't think most predators experience had toward their prey, any more than human hunters to. Possible exception for some dogs, which seem to regard the existence of certain other animals as a blight on the universe and seem so angry that they can't keep themselves from barking, even though it is tactically harmful to their pursuit.
OMG, HATE, you have so put all the nails in line for that hammer!
"they don’t see those on the other side as fully human, and would not mind if many of them died. Read that again: Americans on both ends of the political spectrum do not regard their ideological opponents as human, and would not object if they were exterminated."
I think the prior statement needs to be capitalized in its entirety.
There is so much in your writing that it really needs to be an essay level, educational piece put out into the world. An "aha"for the entirety of humanity.
I would like to see each subject you raise , having an introductory description of the section. On a line above it. 1 or 2 words, all capitalized.
This makes it easier for me to read and to refer back to, if wish. There is so much of importance there, to take in!
Love how you tie this into storytelling. I can just see people, sitting around a campfire talking to one another, way back in time. Of course we'd like to get people talking to one another right now, wouldn't we?
Bottom line This needs to reach as many people as possible . I'm going to restack this, email it to people I know and I am also going to post it on Facebook .
I think this is a brilliant "take" on hate. It has prompted so many thoughts I still can't get my head around them all.
But first off, hate is in our DNA and I believe that it is often a community-unifying (= tribal-unifying) product of over 600 million years of evolution. For it to be such a powerful and ubiquitous force, it had to have been a selectively-advantageous tendency, easily-learned, easily-evoked and hard to forget.
There's a lot of evolution cementing hate DNA into us for it to be easily blunted by "culture" (though we Americans had a good run for awhile).
I also wonder if the dichotomization of our current world into categories of "good" people and "bad" people hasn't rekindled and strengthened the expression of group hatred in our own society.
If you are a "good" person in a "good group", you hate XYZ. If a person disagrees with you, they are by definition a "bad" person, a member of a bad group that is "not us," therefore in danger of being hated.
People who are both good and bad do not exist in this world of dichotomy: you must be good or bad. "Belief" trumps "reason", IMO.
I think that dichotomization may be a crucial element to our understanding of how hate works.
If an outcome defines whether an individual is "good" or "bad", then the road-of-reason that led that person to "goodness" or "badness" is irrelevant, no matter how reasonable and factually-accurate that logical stream might have been.
In the end, what one believes is the only indicator of "good" or "bad." Reason is irrelevant. (Speaking from personal experience.)
IMO, hate is easily elicited by repetition, emotional slogans and images. This makes hate easy to sell. And thus does propaganda work.
"Man loves, men hate. While individual men and women can sustain feelings of love over a lifetime toward a parent or through decades toward a spouse, no significant group in human history has sustained an emotion that could honestly be characterized as love. Groups hate. And they hate well...Love is an introspective emotion, while hate is easily extroverted...We refuse to believe that the "civilized peoples of the Balkans could slaughter each other over an event that occurred over six hundred years ago. But they do. Hatred does not need a reason, only an excuse."
Yes. It is an amazing paradox -- the chemical that allows us to bond is also the one that anchors tribal behavior. It makes sense, and it also puts us on a tightrope. My takeaway is that there is no way around tribalism. We can't eliminate it. What we have to do is learn to manage it and channel it in constructive ways as much as possible.
Erich Maria Remarque's novel 'The Road Back' follows a group of German soldiers after the end of the First World War--it is kind of a continuation of his All Quiet.
Shortly after peace is declared, the narrator, Ernst, is on his way home. He passes an outdoor field hospital--gas cases, men in very bad shape who cannot be moved. They beg, 'take me with you', but nothing can be done. Ernst is depressed by the sight, but a little later, he feels his spirits returning, and his heart soars with great hopes for the new era of peace.
Then he feels guilty...how can he be happy when his comrades are dying in hopeless misery?..and he muses: "Because none can ever wholly feel what another suffers--is that why wars perpetually recur?"
Part of the answer, I think, but not the whole answer...empathy for the suffering (real or imagined) of those on one's own side is almost equally a factor in the outbreak of wars.
Love this reflection. Have you read Pat Barker's WWI trilogy about shellshocked soldiers, trench poets, and the psychiatric work of WHR Rivers? Absolutely amazing and worthy continuation of what Remarque began.
I only had time to skim this between patients and I already love it. Can't wait to read in depth later today.
Crucial topic!
Questions this thoughtful piece evoked: Do animals experience hate? Does a natural prey animal illicit hate in the predator or are they just seeing food? Do rival packs/troops experience hate toward their rivals? If not, is hate a defining aspect of being "human?" When someone becomes disillusioned with a hateful group and leaves it, what happens to their hate? If you switch allegiance between groups, does hate change in any way? Immediately after the 9/11 attack, many hostile groups came together against the aggressors. Does redefining groups change or defuse hate? There is so much more to understand. We all need to studying and learning about this topic.
Great questions! So much to think about, to ponder.
I was wondering about animals, too! All wonderful questions. So much to ponder and study. Thank you.
I don't think most predators experience had toward their prey, any more than human hunters to. Possible exception for some dogs, which seem to regard the existence of certain other animals as a blight on the universe and seem so angry that they can't keep themselves from barking, even though it is tactically harmful to their pursuit.
OMG, HATE, you have so put all the nails in line for that hammer!
"they don’t see those on the other side as fully human, and would not mind if many of them died. Read that again: Americans on both ends of the political spectrum do not regard their ideological opponents as human, and would not object if they were exterminated."
I think the prior statement needs to be capitalized in its entirety.
There is so much in your writing that it really needs to be an essay level, educational piece put out into the world. An "aha"for the entirety of humanity.
I would like to see each subject you raise , having an introductory description of the section. On a line above it. 1 or 2 words, all capitalized.
This makes it easier for me to read and to refer back to, if wish. There is so much of importance there, to take in!
Love how you tie this into storytelling. I can just see people, sitting around a campfire talking to one another, way back in time. Of course we'd like to get people talking to one another right now, wouldn't we?
Bottom line This needs to reach as many people as possible . I'm going to restack this, email it to people I know and I am also going to post it on Facebook .
Congratulations, well done!
THANK YOU!!! Your reactions and thoughts are always so valued. Thank you for sharing!! And great note about creating sections --noted for future!
I think this is a brilliant "take" on hate. It has prompted so many thoughts I still can't get my head around them all.
But first off, hate is in our DNA and I believe that it is often a community-unifying (= tribal-unifying) product of over 600 million years of evolution. For it to be such a powerful and ubiquitous force, it had to have been a selectively-advantageous tendency, easily-learned, easily-evoked and hard to forget.
There's a lot of evolution cementing hate DNA into us for it to be easily blunted by "culture" (though we Americans had a good run for awhile).
I also wonder if the dichotomization of our current world into categories of "good" people and "bad" people hasn't rekindled and strengthened the expression of group hatred in our own society.
If you are a "good" person in a "good group", you hate XYZ. If a person disagrees with you, they are by definition a "bad" person, a member of a bad group that is "not us," therefore in danger of being hated.
People who are both good and bad do not exist in this world of dichotomy: you must be good or bad. "Belief" trumps "reason", IMO.
I think that dichotomization may be a crucial element to our understanding of how hate works.
If an outcome defines whether an individual is "good" or "bad", then the road-of-reason that led that person to "goodness" or "badness" is irrelevant, no matter how reasonable and factually-accurate that logical stream might have been.
In the end, what one believes is the only indicator of "good" or "bad." Reason is irrelevant. (Speaking from personal experience.)
IMO, hate is easily elicited by repetition, emotional slogans and images. This makes hate easy to sell. And thus does propaganda work.
Thank you for this! Much to discuss over beer this weekend!
"Man loves, men hate. While individual men and women can sustain feelings of love over a lifetime toward a parent or through decades toward a spouse, no significant group in human history has sustained an emotion that could honestly be characterized as love. Groups hate. And they hate well...Love is an introspective emotion, while hate is easily extroverted...We refuse to believe that the "civilized peoples of the Balkans could slaughter each other over an event that occurred over six hundred years ago. But they do. Hatred does not need a reason, only an excuse."
--Ralph Peters
Powerful quote. Thank you for sharing.
The bonding effect of oxytocin may also lead to hostility toward people outside the group:
https://texan99.blogspot.com/2010/06/oxytocin-meanie-hormone.html
Yes. It is an amazing paradox -- the chemical that allows us to bond is also the one that anchors tribal behavior. It makes sense, and it also puts us on a tightrope. My takeaway is that there is no way around tribalism. We can't eliminate it. What we have to do is learn to manage it and channel it in constructive ways as much as possible.
Erich Maria Remarque's novel 'The Road Back' follows a group of German soldiers after the end of the First World War--it is kind of a continuation of his All Quiet.
Shortly after peace is declared, the narrator, Ernst, is on his way home. He passes an outdoor field hospital--gas cases, men in very bad shape who cannot be moved. They beg, 'take me with you', but nothing can be done. Ernst is depressed by the sight, but a little later, he feels his spirits returning, and his heart soars with great hopes for the new era of peace.
Then he feels guilty...how can he be happy when his comrades are dying in hopeless misery?..and he muses: "Because none can ever wholly feel what another suffers--is that why wars perpetually recur?"
Part of the answer, I think, but not the whole answer...empathy for the suffering (real or imagined) of those on one's own side is almost equally a factor in the outbreak of wars.
Love this reflection. Have you read Pat Barker's WWI trilogy about shellshocked soldiers, trench poets, and the psychiatric work of WHR Rivers? Absolutely amazing and worthy continuation of what Remarque began.
Erin, sent you email a few days ago, not sure address is still good..did you get it or should I use different contact info?