Everyone hates. Some see it as contempt, some people prefer to loathe, while others call it scorn or hostility. Many (mostly whiney liberal types) mask it with weak sounding words like dislike or aversion. But in the end, everyone hates. It’s a perfectly natural thing. You don’t even have to hate anyone, you can hate a thing. Bottom line: not everything in the world gives us a positive experience. However, this essay will serve as an introduction to a [sham] subfield of study which focuses on hatred among humans; I call it Misanthropology (a branch of Antisociology).
There are two simple ways of categorizing hatred between humans: primary and peripheral. Primary hatred derives from emotions (such as irritation) which are a direct result of time spent with an individual. It is tantamount to a social allergy, in which distinct negative reactions are manifest through prolonged exposure. Peripheral hatred is based upon recognition of another individual’s membership in a community (racial, religious, class, subculture, etc) or by the individual’s reputation. Primary can lead to peripheral hatred if the individual chooses to associate the negative behavior of one with the behavior of the group.
These types of hate differentiate discrimination and prejudice. Discrimination is a normal, natural, useful, and important human tool. To discriminate is to observe and be able to recognize differences. There is no dishonor in discrimination. Prejudice and bigotry are the pre-conceived negative attributes that are damagingly applied to individuals who are part of a group (stereotypes are the collective negative, neutral, and positive attributes applied to a group). Discrimination is an important tool for evaluating individuals, while prejudice draws from the human desire to associate like things in order to simplify existence.
There’s really nothing one can do about primary hatred, or discrimination. Let’s face it: some people are really annoying. In fact, spontaneous violence between individuals who know each other is vastly more common than violence between strangers or acts of bigotry. Every day, husbands beat their wives, parents beat their children, and fathers kill their whole family before turning the gun on themselves.
Prejudice is logical to those who do not properly discriminate. No trait observable in one group of individuals is absent in any other, nor are traits ever ubiquitous within an entire group. Prejudice, then, is a failure to discriminate. In this way, one can see hate has been misunderstood by liberals. It is an ultimate truth that in order to hate someone, you have to get to know them. If you “hate” someone from afar, someone you have never met, you are pre-applying labels, either from your own past experience with similar looking people or possibly based on second-hand accounts of others. Either way, take the time to learn what it is about someone you can’t stand before you decide to hate them.
There are two simple ways of categorizing hatred between humans: primary and peripheral. Primary hatred derives from emotions (such as irritation) which are a direct result of time spent with an individual. It is tantamount to a social allergy, in which distinct negative reactions are manifest through prolonged exposure. Peripheral hatred is based upon recognition of another individual’s membership in a community (racial, religious, class, subculture, etc) or by the individual’s reputation. Primary can lead to peripheral hatred if the individual chooses to associate the negative behavior of one with the behavior of the group.
These types of hate differentiate discrimination and prejudice. Discrimination is a normal, natural, useful, and important human tool. To discriminate is to observe and be able to recognize differences. There is no dishonor in discrimination. Prejudice and bigotry are the pre-conceived negative attributes that are damagingly applied to individuals who are part of a group (stereotypes are the collective negative, neutral, and positive attributes applied to a group). Discrimination is an important tool for evaluating individuals, while prejudice draws from the human desire to associate like things in order to simplify existence.
There’s really nothing one can do about primary hatred, or discrimination. Let’s face it: some people are really annoying. In fact, spontaneous violence between individuals who know each other is vastly more common than violence between strangers or acts of bigotry. Every day, husbands beat their wives, parents beat their children, and fathers kill their whole family before turning the gun on themselves.
Prejudice is logical to those who do not properly discriminate. No trait observable in one group of individuals is absent in any other, nor are traits ever ubiquitous within an entire group. Prejudice, then, is a failure to discriminate. In this way, one can see hate has been misunderstood by liberals. It is an ultimate truth that in order to hate someone, you have to get to know them. If you “hate” someone from afar, someone you have never met, you are pre-applying labels, either from your own past experience with similar looking people or possibly based on second-hand accounts of others. Either way, take the time to learn what it is about someone you can’t stand before you decide to hate them.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If your comment is too long, break it into multiple comments and post them all.