@fmf saidI think you may be correct...it is likely the reason that great philosophers such as Goethe were proponents of travel as a means to increase exposure (read, familiarity) as a way to promote tolerance.
The antidote to feelings of "hate" is familiarity and the rollback of ignorance, perhaps.
@fmf saidIndeed, ignorance purchases bigotry and violence and at common market prices.
In the currently highly polarized public domain and discourse in the U.S., the notion of "hatred" [and accusations attendant thereto] seem to be in very common currency.
Perhaps that is too obscure. It seems that common sense and education have been overlooked because they require reason and effort...not a price some are willing to pay.
@fmf saidContext matters, and many words have more than one meaning. My saying "I hate Brussels' Sprouts" does not deprive the word of its power for other uses such as, "I hate pedophiles and rapists".
What do "hate", "hatred" and "hateful" mean to you?
Have these words lost their meaning through overly casual and inaccurate use?
Are they too often simply used as hyperbole to spice up expressions of disagreement or disapproval or irritation?
Or do they have a particular and deliberate meaning when applied to people, their actions, or ideas?
When and why do you use the words "hate", "hatred" and "hateful"?
Personally, I do not hate any person. Even for evil actions, I try to confine hatred to the action and not the actor. Now, it is possible that, if someone grievously wronged me or someone close to me, I might hate them. I would have to work at letting that go, eventually. The emotion is too poisonous to the soul to leave in there.
@bigdoggproblem saidDo you think this attitude of yours is in any way a result of growing up in a culture imbued with religious values or do you think it is an unexceptional and understandable product of a more humanist outlook?
Personally, I do not hate any person. Even for evil actions, I try to confine hatred to the action and not the actor.
@fmf saidSome of both.
Do you think this attitude of yours is in any way a result of growing up in a culture imbued with religious values or do you think it is an unexceptional and understandable product of a more humanist outlook?
A common saying in my religious community was, "love the sinner, but hate the sin". While this statement is a bit too extreme on both sides, at least it gets the part about avoiding hating actual people right. Not all brands of Christianity avoid that part.
Outside of Christianity, I refined the view, with some help from Buddhist thought. I feel no obligation to love a serial killer, but it is helpful to remember not to descend into rants about how wicked the guy is, because that basically takes the suffering he has inflicted on both himself, and others, and keeps spreading it around. Far better to cut it off before it does any extra damage!
As far as "sin", I have never cared for that word, because it paints all moral wrongs with the same brush. (Some things that were considered to be "sins", I did not think were morally wrong at all. Example: man and woman sleep together 1 day before their wedding night.) Simply put, minor moral wrongs don't seem to deserve hatred, period.
