Are you a Hater? Is there someone you feel hatred for?

[cherokeeprogressive]

Never in my life (I'll be 50 next May 2nd) have I seen so much hatred. We hate Them. They hate Us. We hate This. They hate That.

I've seen posts right here at DU where people have claimed to have disavowed not only friends, but family members as well because of their political philosophy. There are posts about how someone is "shaking with anger" because of a bumper sticker they've seen. We see posts regularly where people brag about starting arguments with others in supermarket checkout lines, car washes, parking lots, doctor office waiting rooms, and every other place where people interact with each other including parks. Sometimes it's over something as simple as what TV channel is being shown in a waiting room.

I'll go on record here and state that sometimes, as a whole, the most intelligent people I've ever interacted with (DU'ers) don't always understand the difference between stupidity and ignorance.

I don't belittle or argue with those whose political philosophy differs with mine, I do my best to educate them. NEVER do I feel hatred for them; They might just be IGNORANT of the political reality of the moment. My Pop is a perfect example. I was tasked with informing him that his 16 year old Granddaughter (MY daughter who I posted about as soon as she came out to me) was gay. I told him up front that his reaction to what I was about to tell him would color my relationship with him until the day he was gone... It all worked out.

Ignorant isn't stupid; it's merely either UNinformed, or MISinformed.

Stop hatin'. I hate it. It's so much of my experience here at DU that I'm considering not visiting the site any longer. I should add that this is the ONLY politically driven website that I've ever visited, and I love this place.

I can't stay though if the hatred gets any worse. People who voted for Barack Obama are hated because they supported Him over Hillary Clinton. Hillary voters are hated because they supported Her over Him. Critics of Barack Obama are either racists or haters because he's black, even though he's only partly so. I'm not considered a thoughtful person here because I criticize him, I'm simply considered a racist (or worse; a republican) if I voice my opinion in print.

I hate the hate, and it's only getting worse. We even hate each other for having differing opinions. How fucked up is that?

[RandomThoughts]

1. I try not to hate people.

And can't think of anyone I hate.

I do dislike my current situation, and so that will change. Although I don't hate anyone for that.

[cherokeeprogressive]

2. You're one of my favorite DU'ers. I never fail to click on your posts.

I just hate the fact that at this point in my life there is a bigger divide between "us" and "them" than at any time I can remember.

I hate he fact that I'm expected to "hate" them.

Does that make me a "Hater"? Or does that make me less than a "good democrat"?

[RandomThoughts]

5. Interesting comment.

I could comment on your use of 'divide' between the groups.


The reason the divide gets further (not the biblical divide lingo) is to try and make you hate them when you wont.

If you wont hate, sometimes some things tries to give you even more reasons to hate. Eventually they run out of steam, and really those things are just hurting.

I think spirits, even those that try to get you to hate, or that hate you, really I think they should be loved. You should not let them change what you think, or get you to do what you think is wrong.

But it is not their faults either, they are in sadness and sometimes the simplest love can bring anything out of sadness.

So the things trying to get you to hate them, that might be spirits you should not hate either, but at the same time, you don't have to do what they want you to do by choosing to hate.


Sometimes I think of it as told in so many stories, very sad things, that are lonely and suffering. And maybe a little love, even when they are mean, is a bit better.

I have posted this a few times already, it has a few contexts, one of them is in the context of unseen spirits.

The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin´67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9muzyOd4Lh8

[Heidi]

3. Hate requires an emotional investment.

And that's a power I try not to convey to those I dislike and disrespect, and/or by whom I've been hurt. The few times in my life when I've felt hatred, it has always hurt me more than it hurt the other person. :shrug:

[cwydro]

8. yes

:thumbsup:

Hatred usually poisons the hater.

[Heidi]

9. Good morning, you!

How's your beautiful island today? :hug:

[cwydro]

22. Very beautiful and sunny.

We're thinking of taking the seaplane to the Dry Tortugas...but not sure if that takes too much energy, lol.

[Heidi]

26. :jealous:

:rofl:

It's a gray, overcast early evening here, and we've had to turn the heat on already (every year is a quest to delay turning on the heat until the end of the first week in October).

Hope y'all have a beautiful, sunny, KW day, gf! :hug:

[cwydro]

38. I know...my friends in Ireland already have their heat on too.

But I am over sun and heat...too many years of it now.

Moving to Europe as soon as I can make it happen.

Funny how my mom fled the British Isles to escape the rain...and I am fleeing back to escape the sun.

[Forkboy]

4. I don't hate you for having a differing opinion.

I hate that you don't see Godzilla as the end all, be all of existence! What am I supposed to do with people like you?

And for the record, I didn't like Hillary or Obama.....

:hide:

[struggle4progress]

6. Thank you!

The situation in the US seems increasingly dangerous to me. Many people sense that the country has real problems but lack the background or creativity or empathy or intelligence to think clearly about the situation -- or to plan any useful response

We all need to be able to deal with folk who don't necessarily share our ideas -- and it's better if we can get along with them with some civility. Some people will always be our enemies, and we will have to fight them and what they stand for -- but hatred only breeds hatred

And hatred keeps us from thinking clearly about what we need to do: in fact, that's exactly why some people push anger and hatred at every moment. If the situation in the US continues to deteriorate, we're likely to see more polarizing emotional demagoguery and propaganda from the media, and we'll need to become increasingly sophisticated in resisting the traps being carefully set for us

[Tobin S.]

7. I used to be filled with hate

No more, no more. I understand why I was like that and it was due to circumstances that weren't entirely of my own doing. But I hated myself as much as I did anyone else.

I don't hate anyone now. I might get a little angry sometimes, but I can temper it with understanding. I spent a little time not long ago being very angry at people who had wounded me deeply. I don't even hate them now, but I keep my distance.

[LaurenG]

10. I don't hate anyone

but there are legitimate reasons to distance or ignore people who are toxic. There is also good reason to speak out against attacks or harm caused by others.
I think a lot of what people think of as hate is really just uncontrolled anger and not seeing others as real or human.

Emotionally charged issues will get us to what is perceived as hate very quickly. The problem is we all have redeeming qualities as well as qualities worthy of dislike. Be the change you want to see.

[Skip Intro]

11. God, I'm so sick of labels.

I am who I am. I don't fit into any of the continually created boxes we all seem eager to place ourselves in. Not me. I think what I think and I do what I do, and I really couldn't give a fuck what box others put me in.

I hate no one, I wish nothing but the best for everyone, and I won't jump through hoops or chant some words to prove it. And I won't wear anyone's badge of achievement. Fuck all that.

[hayu_lol]

12. You can neither hate nor love...

anyone you don't personally know.

That applies to music, groups, foods, books et al.

One can speak of hating/loving the unknown but the words are empty.

[Skip Intro]

14. but are you a hater? or are you some other easily labled person?

God, I just hate that.

I really, really do.

"Stop bein' a hater."

Fuck you, you know?

[KG]

13. my negative feeling are usually more complex than the stark nakedness of hate.

[rug]

15. This should be pinned at the top of every forum.

"There are posts about how someone is 'shaking with anger' because of a bumper sticker they've seen." Or poetry. Or restaurants. Or how to cook chicken. Or Kirstie Alley.

Good post.

[hobbit709]

16. I don't think there's anyone I actually hate.

But there are quite a few people and ideas I loathe and detest.

[tigereye]

17. no, not usually - sometimes extreme hate has a whiff of "me thinks thou

protesteth too much" in it. We usually all have some elements in ourselves of what we strongly despise. At least that's what the Jungians might say... :D


I do strongly dislike Rick Santorum, though. Hate might be a bit too strong. I certainly don't "hate" other Dems because they have different preferences than mine. :shrug:



To be fair, I think some "hate" is really hyperbole.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. I hate to say this

:D

but I am pretty much hating the management where I work. They have made some stupid decisions in the past months and it is costing me dearly.

Other than that I hate no one that I can think of.

It takes a lot of energy to hate and I am usually too lazy for all that. I would rather walk away and go enjoy my day elsewhere.

[taterguy]

19. I hate Chuck Nevitt. For obvious reasons.

[bif]

20. I totally agree

I used to argue with Republican friends. Now I just give them the time out signal. Life is too short to fill it with hate.

[madinmaryland]

21. I hate the Washington Redskins, but that's about it. nt

[mix]

24. I dislike the Skins as rivals, but don't hate them.

It's the Eagles I truly hate. Perennial losers with the worst fans in the NFL.

5-0

[mix]

23. And your posts against those who criticize the military

and its post-WWII record of spreading death, poverty and destruction, is that "hate" or just a strong dislike?

[nolabear]

25. No. It's my opinion that hate is every bit as strong a connection as love.

It can control your life, blind you to seeing the rest of the world. I don't blame anyone for feeling hatred toward people who have done terrible things to them, but hopefully it's short-lived and doesn't poison one for too long.

[mitchum]

27. Yes, but I am striving for indifference (maybe one day)

[frogmarch]

28. Oh yes.

I hate the husband of one of my sister-in-laws. He spews racist shit wherever he goes. He especially badmouths blacks and Jews. He used to claim to be a Democrat, but now he watches Faux News all day and has joined the teabagger movement. To top it off, as a fundie, he thinks women were put here to serve men.

Yes, I hate him. If I tried to stop hating him, I'd feel as if I were betraying everything that's good in the world, including my two grandsons, one of whom is black and the other biracial.

I have hated the guy for the entire 45 years I've known him, and now that my husband's let's-all-get-together-even-if-we hate-each-other mom has died, my husband and I can tell his sister's husband to fuck off. And we will the next time we happen to see him.

Edited to add: He's a rancher and leases land on a South Dakota res. He said that once when he was driving into town one night, he thought he'd run over an Indian, but that he checked on the way home, and it was a tree branch.

He dragged his dog home behind his pickup with a chain for following him, and when the dog had pups, he shot all the females in the litter.

I hate him.

[HipChick]

29. There's always room for change...my white republican boss is dating a black liberal female

she made him go to the rally today:rofl: He's clearly smitten..he no longer spouts the idiot stuff he used to..he's slowly coming around...He mentioned a story to me that was on KO the other night, so I'd bet he has to sit through at least 3hrs of MSNBC in the evening + Jon Stewart..:rofl:

[Rochester]

30. There are a number of people I know personally and hate

but most of them are for something other than politics.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

31. My dear cherokeeprogressive...

I am not a hater.......

There are people I dislike, though. People I want to stay away from. So I do...

I refuse to give any of my energy to hating. It's just not worth it. For me, love is the answer.

Please don't leave us...

If you leave, the haters will have won, and those of us who are left will be diminished.

:hug:

[jobycom]

33. I always wonder

if you can possibly be this sweet in real life. Sometimes I suspect you are probably that woman who tossed the cat in the trash can, and you just come here to live out your fantasy of being nice now and then where it can't hurt your real life image. :)

Usually I just assume you are sweet, though. :)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

34. My dear jobycom!

Well, I am more complicated in real life, lol! And there are those who claim that I am not what I seem to be...

I assure you that I normally am a nice person, but I have moments when I'm not. I can get angry, but I rarely show it here. NO idea why...

I would never hurt a cat. Never. I love cats. When I went to the pound for our first cat, I walked into this room which was wall to wall with cages. Every cage had a cat. They just sat there and looked at me. But one cat got up, walked up to its door, and rubbed on that door, and meowed at me. I took him home.

Does that help?

:hi:

[jobycom]

35. Well, you are famous for the occasional F bomb...

:rofl:

That's very similar to the way I got one of my cats. Kiki. I was walking past her cage to look at another feline inmate, and Kiki reached through the cage and grabbed my arm. :) She's seventeen now, and still grabs me when I walk by.

[jobycom]

32. Hate is like love. Lots of meanings to that one word. I agree mostly with what you said

but I think you are confusing anger and frustration with hate. People jump on me because I criticize Obama, others jump on me when I defend him. That's anger. I can live with people having different opinions and expressing them strongly. That's just the result of having a discussion board designed around airing out political differences. Anytime you are amongst this many people and you express an opinion, you can expect that type of reaction.

Hate itself has as many meanings as "love." I hated "Lord of the Rings," I hate green chile beer, I hate the fact that Coca Cola is unhealthy for me because I love it so much, I hate people who drive too slow or too fast or in any way that causes me inconvenience. I hate hate. I hate anger. I hate people who celebrate when someone kills himself just because he owned a business that made a product they don't understand.

But that's not real hate. That's just disgust mixed with frustration, or sometimes just disappointment that I can't like something or someone more.

Real hate, where you want to hurt or kill someone, or want them dead... No, I can't feel that. I can't say I never will--I've never had to face the murder of a loved one yet. The closest I can get are people like Ronald Reagan or Dick Cheney and his gang--people who treat others' lives as poker chips in their bid for the ultimate pot. Or racists who want to hurt or destroy any group just for existing--Muslims, gays, women, cops (ran into that the other day). Those I can come close to hating. I wouldn't grieve their deaths. But I still can't wish them dead, or even suffering. People dancing on Cheney's hospital gurney even disturb me.

A lot of what you are describing isn't hate, though, but bad manners. I get upset when I hear someone in a grocery line or waiting room attacking gays or Muslims. But I let them be. I don't see any virtue in humiliating anyone, and I'm not going to change them in the next few minutes, so the only thing I could accomplish is feeding me ego. I like my ego, and it's one hungry muther most of the time, but I can feed it without it coming at others' expense.

As for DU, yes, there are a lot of bad manners here. People defend them by pretending they are being "anti-PC," and pretending it's a virtue. And there is a lot of hatred here, but small minds who like to hate. But that's what my ignore list is for. There are a ton of people on here who are beautiful, wonderful souls who love kitties and kids and all living creatures, and I learn a lot by reading them and conversing with them. You are on that list. Those are the people I come here for.

Plus, there are just sheer numbers here. I'm a pretty positive person who loves everyone, but I lose it now and then. Most people do. If you have a thousand wonderful people who get mad and say something dumb once in a while, that's still thousands of dumb comments. If you post something, maybe five of those thousand will disagree (that's the point of a discussion board--otherwise we'd only need the + and 1 keys on our computers) with it and rebuke you. Seeing a handful of angry attacks feels like hatred, but often it's not. Often it's just someone expressing their opinion before calming down enough to put in lots of polite disclaimers.

I agree there's too much anger and not enough restraint, and a lot of people find virtue in questionable actions, and some people seem to see the world in football terms, as either their team or the bad guys. I've started to leave many times. I have left many times, really, but usually come back after a few weeks, or months if I'm really upset (that usually happens around primary season).

But there's a lot of good here, too, especially in the Lounge (usually). So I hope you hang around. We need all the positive people we can get. Just use "Ignore" a lot more. Better to ignore a few people than to ignore us all.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

36. I've never really hated anybody

I "can't stand" some individuals like Richard Simmons, Joey Buttafouco, red headed midgets, and all cast members of reality shows but hate, no.

I don't have the time or inclination to fight with people on the internet, so your experience isn't something I can relate to here on DU but I hope you find a solution.

[bookworm65t]

37. I have "selective hate", unfortunately

There are a number of celebrities now who are attracting an unusual amount of hate online , and I am sick of seeing this crap. the Twilight series, the Jonas Bros., Justin Bieber, etc. I don't know what the hell is up with that.(especially since some of these people are not much different from the teen favorites from the past like wayne Newton, the Osmonds, the Cassidys, etc.)

I would like to think that I am not a hater, but that would not be true. A little misery bestowed on a few people from my past would delight me. Several Repukes across the spectrum need to get their asses kicked (multiple times actually). And retribution against our world's worst leaders would make me smile.

Maybe the point of this post, nee' even this discussion, is managing the hate that we do have. Instead of silly posts about Stephanie Meyer, why not try to channel this emotion and work towards changing the situation, if possible? (that is somethng that I would like to do, although I am not sure which direction to go)

Just some thoughts...



:evilgrin:

[Iggo]

39. Yes. Yes.

Life is too short to fake it.

[Brickbat]

40. I generally don't hate people. It takes too much energy.

[dimbear]

41. Frankly, I admit I hate Meg Whitman. If you lived in California,

you would too.

Don't see the evil in that view at all.