Hate
A state of humourlessness that fails to appreciate our shortcomings.
A description of a negative human emotion that has been adopted as a political pejorative designed to destroy someone’s reputation.
An adjective used almost exclusively in public discourse by activists and bureaucrats who have appointed themselves guardians of society to share their disapproval of one or more people with whom they disagree.
Where the incompetent prefer the buck to stop. If we are good at something, then we are regularly given leeway in a variety of ways because our value persists irrespective of how much hatred we display. Those who believe themselves to have the right views, the right politics, and having attended the right colleges - but are otherwise mediocre or useless, need to stay competitive in a market that where they have no value. This is strategically achieved by undercutting their superiors through fallacious ad hominems.
It is not a matter of whether or not hate exists. The issue is that humans cannot be trusted to distinguish between parody, disagreement, legitimate dissidence, irony, and real hatred when we occupy positions that would claim such things. Additionally, we should remain suspicious of those who would want such a position. Finding a deferential and moderate host to take on such a role is not likely considering it would provide us with arbitrary power over others, something that only political egotists would revere.
The political nature of the term is further clarified by examining how it is discussed by hate hustlers. While there was a time when we understood hatred as the offspring of fear and ignorance, this is no longer the case. We have disabused ourselves of this empathy and those who hate are now not only dangerous, they are a sort of intolerable evil that we must fight at every opportunity. Not with education or love, mind you, but with disrepute and dismissal from society. It turns out that this new brand of religious intolerance towards the hateful is lacking the wisdom of the past that urged us to treat them with compassion and understanding.
We have traded our patience for pitchforks, because peace does not benefit the politics of the vicious.
The correct way to address hate is to humanize others and find a common ground. We need to recognize and appreciate that the prejudice we may possess does not invalidate our worth as a contributing member of society. We are comprised, after all, of far more than one perspective or view, and we should examine them together while we work on understanding the genesis of such things.
It may be impossible to overcome them entirely, but this is how progress is made. We do not need third parties to arbitrate our differences for us, we are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves, although it seems that many of us have forgotten how. The solution is to learn again, accepting that if we leave it to a politically-minded egotist, our neighbours will start to disappear before our eyes.
Compassion should be reserved and allocated for those who deserve it, it should never be used as a justification to crucify another on our behalf.
When in doubt, laugh with whom you hate.
Posted: 26 Jan 2023
