Soulful
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I was reading an article (here), and I began to wonder about the idea of hate and differences in how it might be defined and understood.
I was raised to imagine hate as something active; I understood hate as an emotion more so than an action. I was told that, for hate to exist, hateful feelings must be present and if they are accompanied by an act then the intent must be an exercise to express one's hateful feelings (and that expressing one's hateful feelings is not an act of hatred because one has the right to opinion and feeling -- this is kind of similar to something discussed a few lines down, I think).
However, I think there is another definition of hate, which is based on the simple observation of behaviour and doesn't require admission of feelings of disdain, dislike, or otherwise discontentment. It is this definition which I believe the article employs, and which many human rights arguments seem to employ. This second argument also seems to interpret hate as the absence of affording dignity, respect, freedom, etc. toward the subject of hate.
Oftentimes, it seems people claim they are not practicing hatred by rationalizing their actions in culture, beliefs, etc. They focus on the rationalization or justification of the correctedness of their beliefs and prioritize that above the rights of the other party to dignity, freedom, respect, etc. Along these lines, it seems as though such an approach would fall within the first definition of hate by using the argument "It's not as though I hate you (it's not as though I harbour feelings of wanting to destroy you) but I just believe XYZ is correct/appropriate." (In this case, XYZ = something that may be viewed as a human rights crime.) Proponents of the second argument may then claim that "I believe that XYZ is correct/appropriate" dismisses someone's rights, and that compromising human rights and refusing to let up one's position might indeed be a form of hatred.
So, I guess I wonder how common that first interpretation of hate is vs. the latter. Or what are other ways in which hate is conceived.
And, if the second (I'd say more sophisticated) definition is also hate, iyo.
Is it hate to attempt to deny someone else their humanity? What marks this as hatred?
Also, is anyone able/willing to clarify the difference between hate and hatred? Many thanks.
I was raised to imagine hate as something active; I understood hate as an emotion more so than an action. I was told that, for hate to exist, hateful feelings must be present and if they are accompanied by an act then the intent must be an exercise to express one's hateful feelings (and that expressing one's hateful feelings is not an act of hatred because one has the right to opinion and feeling -- this is kind of similar to something discussed a few lines down, I think).
However, I think there is another definition of hate, which is based on the simple observation of behaviour and doesn't require admission of feelings of disdain, dislike, or otherwise discontentment. It is this definition which I believe the article employs, and which many human rights arguments seem to employ. This second argument also seems to interpret hate as the absence of affording dignity, respect, freedom, etc. toward the subject of hate.
Oftentimes, it seems people claim they are not practicing hatred by rationalizing their actions in culture, beliefs, etc. They focus on the rationalization or justification of the correctedness of their beliefs and prioritize that above the rights of the other party to dignity, freedom, respect, etc. Along these lines, it seems as though such an approach would fall within the first definition of hate by using the argument "It's not as though I hate you (it's not as though I harbour feelings of wanting to destroy you) but I just believe XYZ is correct/appropriate." (In this case, XYZ = something that may be viewed as a human rights crime.) Proponents of the second argument may then claim that "I believe that XYZ is correct/appropriate" dismisses someone's rights, and that compromising human rights and refusing to let up one's position might indeed be a form of hatred.
So, I guess I wonder how common that first interpretation of hate is vs. the latter. Or what are other ways in which hate is conceived.
And, if the second (I'd say more sophisticated) definition is also hate, iyo.
Is it hate to attempt to deny someone else their humanity? What marks this as hatred?
Also, is anyone able/willing to clarify the difference between hate and hatred? Many thanks.
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