Why People Hate

Why do People Hate?

Hate comes from fear, anger and the belief you or your group has suffered a terrible injustice.  If you believe there’s a conspiracy going on and a certain group has it out for you, it awakens inside you the capacity to hate.

After all, the human brain can be trained.  It can be trained to be kind and caring; it can be trained to hate.  You may remember the song from South Pacific: 

You've got to be taught to hate and fear,

You've got to be taught from year to year,

It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a different shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

When all is said and done, hate is a faith.  Hate comes from believing that the people you hate deserve to be hated.  Unlike prejudice and racism, hatred cannot be eliminated by education alone. Bret Stephens says, “Fear is often a function of unfamiliarity.”  When we are unfamiliar with a group, we tend to stereotype that group.

But. fear and hate can be trained out of you by experience. You meet someone from the hated group and discover they are not as dangerous as you were led to believe.  By the way, one of the reasons I teach where I do is so students can meet and experience somebody Jewish and see with their own eyes, Jews are people, human beings, who do not deserve to be hated.  

Wherever you live, do what you can do to stop the hate.