Why is there so much hate in the world
The Issue That’s Tearing Us Apart
AS A SCHOLAR of Jewish history, David Myers has more than a passing interest in the mechanisms of hate.
For years, the distinguished professor of history and founding director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy has studied antisemitism and the persistence of anti-Jewish sentiment. But he’s also looked beyond those boundaries.
“I’ve been repeatedly struck by the seemingly endless transmission of hate toward Jews, including in places where there are no Jews,” Myers says. “What gives rise to that hate? How does it take root not just in an individual, but in a group of individuals brought together by a shared sense of history or common destiny? How important is hate as a cohesive agent for that group?”
Such questions take on greater urgency at a time when long-simmering manifestations of hate seem to be increasingly pervasive. The U.S. Department of Justice has seen steady rises in hate crimes nationwide from year to year. News reports on any given day carry stories about white nationalist rallies, physical attacks against Asian Americans, violence against LGBTQ people, and vandalizin
There’s a lot of hate in the world. UCLA’s scholars are asking why and what can be done
Key takeaways:
- The three-year pilot program brings together fellows from 20 disciplines across the UCLA campus.
- The first year focuses on research into myriad topics comparable to hate — how it manifests in the brain, online and in communities, and who is most affected.
- Findings will support recent interventions in education, health care, public policy and other fields.
UCLA is launching the Initiative to Learn Hate, an ambitious social impact project that brings together a broad consortium of scholars to understand and ultimately mitigate loathing in its multiple forms.
Supported by a $3 million gift from an anonymous donor, researchers will undertake 23 projects this year. The three-year pilot spans topics that examine the neurobiology of hate, the impact of social media hate speech on kids, the dehumanization of unhoused individuals, racial discrimination in health concern settings and more.
“Hate is so pervasive in our nature that it almost seems too daunting to take up,” said David Myers, the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Professor of Jewish H
Why Is There So Much Hatred Today?
Recently, I prepared to guide a discussion on why there is so much hatred in our world.
I started with the dictionary. Hatred – “extreme hate or disgust.” Ouch! I realized quickly I have my dislikes and disgusts… but hopefully, not extreme. We speak harshly of others who fit that definition. But we dress it up in nicer clothes when we think about ourselves. In moments of honesty, we might communicate of ourselves as being turned off, challenged, annoyed…
Perhaps I need to look at my own dislikes and disgust and where I might cross the line. I may need to “own” some things… not just understand the psychodynamics!
What follows draws heavily from Why People Hate: The Science Behind Why We Love to Hate.
The Fiery Emotions that Fuel Hatred
Four of the primary reasons people hate others
- People want a scapegoat
When you are struggling with problems, it is easier to funnel negative strength into blaming someone else than to confront your role in your problems. Many people link hate groups because it allows them to channel the criticize for all of their problems into another group of people while being supported by
When I returned from a roots journey to a small village in southern Poland, I felt a sense of satisfaction. I stood on the land where my grandfather grew up. I breathed in the air that my ancestors breathed. I felt clear and proud that my roots extend to peasants who struggled to make a living.
I came home wanting to consider that people everywhere are well-intentioned; caring for their families and helping out their neighbors, respecting the law and the golden rule. So many kind and generous people guided me on my journey to and within Poland and helped me detect what I was looking for.
Truth be told, I am no longer certain what I was looking for. Certainly the satisfaction of connecting to the past, of communing with my grandfather’s spirit, of locating myself finer in the present. And yet, as a Jew who has struggled to let go of inherited holocaust trauma, all the trips in the world to Germany and to Poland, even those shepherded by compassionate and gentle guides, do not and cannot release me from the awareness that once upon a time, people just like me were hated so much that many believed our kind should be exterminated. And they did just that, transforming a population of
Why So Much Hate?
I get a lot of hate mail, especially in response to columns or posts critical of Donald Trump. My post the other time on Trump and fascism brought in some beauties.
Here’s an excerpt from one of the more printable ones:
I guess to a LIBTARD FOOL such as yourself, it’s only fascism if conservatives/Republicans/Trump are in power, even though they don’t even attempt to carry out such things. On the other hand, to a LIBTARD, Democrats actually BEING Fascists somehow equates to “protecting democracy” (which we don’t even live in, nor have been set up to ever be in). You fucking communist sack of disgusting, lying shit!
Some of these hate letters make a half-hearted effort to engage in arguments, but most are pure venom. Where does this hate arrive from, and what might damp it down so that we can return to a slightly more civil democracy?
The short answer, I think, is that the haters fomented by Donald Trump especially hate liberals. And if you bother to review the history of the past century, you can view why.
Since at least the presidency of Bill Clinton, the Democrats have become the party of educated, cosm