Why Do We Hate?

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Why Do We Hate?
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Thu, 11-19-2009 - 9:31am

Why do we hate? Academics seek answer in new fieldAP








SPOKANE, Wash. – Why did the Nazis hate the Jews? Why did the Hutus hate the Tutsis?


Hate is everywhere, but the fundamental question of why one person can hate another has never been adequately studied, contends Jim Mohr of Gonzaga University, who is developing a new academic field of hate studies.


The goal is to explain a condition that has plagued humanity since one caveman looked askance at another.


"What makes hate tick?" Mohr, director of Gonzaga's Institute for Action Against Hate, wondered. "How can we stop it?"


Gonzaga founded the institute a decade ago after some black law students received threatening letters. It has since started a Journal of Hate Studies, hosted a conference and offered its first class on hatred last spring.


The hope is that other universities will follow suit, said Ken Stern of the American Jewish Committee in New York, who has been involved in the effort. "We wanted to approach hate more intelligently," he said.


Stern, who has spent 20 years battling anti-Semitism, said the need for hate studies became obvious when people started fighting groups like the Aryan Nations, which once flourished in this area. Opponents galvanized against the Aryans, but didn't really know how best to fight them, Stern said.


"We were flying by the seat of our pants," he said. "There was no testable theory."


There is not even a good definition of hate, Stern contends.


Philosophers have offered numerous definitions: Rene Descartes said hate was the urge to withdraw from something that is thought bad. Aristotle saw hate as the incurable desire to annihilate an object.


In psychology, Sigmund Freud defined hate as an ego state that wishes to destroy the source of its unhappiness.


Gonzaga, a Jesuit university best known for its basketball team, offered a class on the subject taught by five professors from different disciplines.


Student Kayla De Los Reyes was in that class, and said the information both horrified her and gave her hope.


"Hate is something that is part of the human emotional makeup," she said. "Everyone feels it at one point or another. You have to learn to control it."


The goal is to create an academic home where a variety of disciplines, including history, psychology, religious studies, anthropology and political science, can be brought together to focus on hate. It's the same sort of effort that led to the creation of disciplines like black studies or women's studies, Mohr said.


Such academic efforts are not without controversy. Some skeptics fear they are little more than attacks on the dominant power structure.


"This stuff tends to be one dimensional and presumes the guilt of an archetypal white male," said Glenn Ricketts, spokesman for the National Association of Scholars.


Indeed, De Los Reyes said one of the more interesting topics in the class involved white privilege. The most recent Journal of Hate Studies contained articles about oppression of gays, Nazi experiments on Jews, the local battle against Aryan Nations, and Muslim support for suicide bombings.

Heather Veeder, a graduate assistant for the institute, said the organization has an important mission.

"Hate thrives in areas not illuminated by education," she said.

But Stern said it is too easy to blame ignorance for hate. People can have plenty of knowledge about something and still hate it, he said. The problem is when one person or group can separate another person or group from their humanity, thinking of them as an "other," Stern said.

"We dehumanize them and justify violence against them," Stern said.

There is no simple answer to why people hate, Mohr said. Hate can be sparked by greed, or fear, or a tribe bonding together in opposition to another. People looking to belong will hate others to fit into a group, he said.

With all the political conflict in the United States, it can seem that hate is on the rise. Some people seem to hate President Obama. Some hate Muslims. Some hate homosexuals.

But Mohr said he wouldn't pursue a field of hate studies if he didn't think something positive could be achieved.

"We can change," Mohr said. "There has to be hope."


I'll start by saying that I want to be paid a large salary for researching topics that basically end with "There is no simple answer.." .   LOL


Most anyone 12 and older recognizes that hate is a complicated emotion. Mr. Mohr could go back in history far before the Hutus and Tutsis to find hate. Study the Mongols and the Manchurians.  Or the Goths and the Romans. Look into tribal cultures everywhere from the Amazon to the American Southwest. Put two different groups of people within sight of each other and chances are they'll find something to hate about one another.


Hate has different levels and develops from different origins. Freud was abstract in his explanation of hate, but it comes down to survival of the fittest. If your tribe is starving and the tribe on the other side of the valley seems abundantly blessed, you're going to grow to not like them very much. If the tribe in the neighboring village keeps stealing your goats and women, you're going to dislike them. If your king has sent you on a journey around the world to bring back land and wealth to your country, you will find reason to hate whatever peoples you're going to pillage and plunder from. If you lived in fear of the clan on the other side of the mountain because they burned your village once a year, you'd grow to hate them. Hate was often a matter of survival.


As long as we are human beings with separate cultures, religions, ideals, colors, beliefs and backgrounds there will be "other". We can't help it. It's in our nature and it goes back millions of years. We are more civilized now (hopefully) so we can control our feelings, but put us back into a threatening situation and we would very quickly revert back to that sense of "hate" that makes us distrustful of those we deem "different".  I think in many ways what we deem now as "hate" is a primative leftover from our ancestors who had to quickly determine an enemy or a non-enemy by sizing up their differences.


I also tend to agree that studies in this area will lead to the "hate" of the dominate power structure - which will, in most academic studies - be white and male. Unless the studies are taught relative to the beliefs and ideals of the time period being discussed, then they will lend themselves to not resolving hate, but just moving it around.

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Registered: 03-18-2000
In reply to: ddnlj
Thu, 11-19-2009 - 10:32am

Firstly the word "hate" is over used. It's used instead of a more accurate definitions... dislike; annoy; disapprove ect.


Actual hate is a mix of fear & ignorance IMO.


Those in a position of power

 


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Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: ddnlj
Thu, 11-19-2009 - 12:28pm

<<< Firstly the word "hate" is over used. It's used instead of a more accurate definitions... dislike; annoy; disapprove ect.

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Registered: 03-18-2000
In reply to: ddnlj
Thu, 11-19-2009 - 1:15pm

"Do you turn your back on possible threats because you fear you might be considered a racist or others might judge you?"


It's for authorities to keep us safe. Should we see something "not right" report it. I'm not racist so if a person is breaking the law or acting suspiciously their race doesn't play a part.


"Should we all assume a quiet position of passivity in order to "get along"?"


In some situations it's better to be passive than confirm another's preconceived idea.


"Should we be so open-minded that we lose sight of danger right around the corner?"

 


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Registered: 03-23-2003
In reply to: ddnlj
Thu, 11-19-2009 - 5:01pm

Firstly the word "hate" is over used. It's used instead of a more accurate definitions... dislike; annoy; disapprove ect.


ITA.