Hate

I read an article on cnn.com about the rise of hate groups in recent months. They have a new target in President Obama and blame him and immigrants for the current financial crisis. I don't understand this mentality; there are plenty of valid and logical reasons for hating people, why pick something arbitrary like the color of their skin? I hate people for a wide variety of reasons: they are stupid, they drive slow in the left lane, they are entertained by reality television, etc. But skin color? C'mon, why hate Obama because he's black when you can hate him because he's a typical pandering, two-faced politician? Why hate John McCain because he's white when you can hate him for being a sniveling, pandering, Dr. Evil-doing-the Macarena jerk? (Hey, they've got pandering in common! Bi-partisanship!)

In all seriousness, what I never really understood is why these groups resort to the level of 'hate'. There are valid reasons for disagreeing with others, but why is hate necessary? I disagreed with quite a bit of the policies of G.W. Bush, but I don't hate the man. I don't think he was a very good President, but if I ever had the honor of meeting him, I would treat it as an honor and would shake his hand. It seems to me that hate groups are incapable of disagreeing with someone while treating them as valid human beings at the same time.

Maybe it's part of their marketing scheme. Hate groups attract followers based on the rhetoric of hate the stirs up those that share these strong feelings. In spite of what some members say (like David Duke in the CNN.com article), violence seems to be at the heart of hate groups' actions. A burning cross is an implied threat. Some of the followers (perhaps a majority?) are enticed by the violence. It would be easy to view these followers as simple-minded and primitive folk that just want to smash the thing they (rightly or wrongly) view as causing their problems, but such a view would be inaccurate. Some of these people are rational and very intelligent, but somehow find the violence alluring. Since hate begets violence, hate becomes the rallying cry of these groups.

Or maybe I'm giving these groups too much credit. Maybe the answer is as simple as the fact that people like feeling important and special. Hate groups tell their constituents that it is their destiny to rule (or whatever) and that these other groups (blacks, jews, hispanics, gays, etc.) are usurping that destiny. It becomes easier to hate when you think that someone is taking something that belongs to you.

The scariest man I ever met was a worker at a factory that I worked at for a summer. He was a really nice guy that I spent quite a bit of time chatting with over the course of a few weeks. He seemed completely normal and highly intelligent. Then one day during the course of our assignment for the day, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing the word "White" on the back of one arm and "Pride" on the back of the other. I wasn't shocked by the sentiment, I was shocked that this person could believe in that sentiment.