CityOfAngels

"Hatred is an element of struggle; relentless hatred of the enemy that impels us over and beyond the natural limitations of man and transforms us into effective, violent, selective, and cold killing machines. Our soldiers must be thus; a people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy." - Che Guevara

"We love without reason, and without reason we hate." - Jean-francois Regnard

Hatred has been a bane of every society from the beginning of time. When one thinks of hate, they think of Hitler, Chairman Mao, or even Satan. Hitler murdered over 6 million people, most of whom were of Jewish descent, and sparked the creation of many hate-powered factions that still exist today. Mao Tse-Tung brought about the Cultural Revolution in China, in which the oppression of the Chinese public was maximized to epic proportions; even more so than "The First Emperor," who spent thousands of lives on the construction of the Great Wall and other lavish buildings, including his own mausoleum. Satan, whether a fictional character or an angel fallen from Heaven, is seen by many as the source of everything "evil," which includes hate.

Many people neglect to include themselves on that list. In America today, hatred is looked down upon just as much as infidelity is in many (if not all) strict-Muslim countries. What we forget is that hate is natural in all of us; we all hate. It is our social and moral responsibility to suppress such hate. Hate is even promoted, although indirectly, by many Christians today. I've heard many Christians say, "Don't hate the sinner, hate the sin." It's an acceptance of our nature, yet it conveys a message that discourages the allowance of hate to negatively affect our lives.

Personally, I hate many things. I hate the fact that many people are ignorant. I hate it whenever I see a news story about a terrorist group flying planes into skyscrapers or taking over a school of kids and their parents and killing over 300 of them. When I was with my ex-girlfriend, I hated every time I let her back into my life, because it pointed out a weakness in me not only to myself, but also to the person who was hurting me. I even hate my own father, whom catalyzed the demise of my last relationship by not giving her a chance from day one, and whom is relentless in his ignorance and immaturity. But the fact is, I made it a personal goal to rarely if ever act upon my hate unless it came to life or death.

What many people fail to realize is that hate has its reasons; whether such reasons can be backed up by common sense is another story. Instead of looking at why Timothy McVeigh truck-bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, many like to instead label him as an "evil-doer" (forgive my Bush quote) and leave it at that. One obstacle preventing these people from looking at reason is the theory that tolerance and hate are like water and oil; that people in general have a mental list of people and things they hate, and a completely separate list of people and things they tolerate, with no similarities between the two lists.

The truth is it doesn't work that way. Earlier, I said that I hate my father, and I gave a reason why. Well, right now I'm also going to tell you that I love my father very much, because he has done whatever he could to make sure that I have a place to stay, food in my belly, clothes to wear, money for school, videogames to play, and a computer to post long rants such as this one ever since I was born. Yes, I both love and hate my father. How can this be? One word: Reasons. I have both reasons to love my father and to hate my father. This means that in order to elminate hate, one must eliminate the reasons that generate hatred.

Hatred is not always negative. It is quite possibly always deleterious to someone, but it can also be used as a tool to produce a better standard of living. I will once again quote Che Guevara: "Hatred is an element of struggle; relentless hatred of the enemy that impels us over and beyond the natural limitations of man and transforms us into effective, violent, selective, and cold killing machines." Now, let me provide you with a fictional example of how hate can be utilized:

Scenario: Tom is a racist, yet his Christian grandmother has been taking him to a Protestant church every Sunday morning. After about two months, he decides that this stuff about peace and love makes a lot of sense, yet he can't rid himself of his hate for black men because his mom was raped and killed by a group of black men. One day he sees his pastor walking out of a grocery store, and he decides to approach him with some questions regarding his dilemma. After approaching him and striking a conversation, they begin walking towards his car. He asks Tom if he needs a ride home and Tom says, "Sure."

They both enter the car when a group of 4 masked men approach the vehicle, demanding him and his pastor to "Get the fuck outta the car, n***a!" Tom and his pastor get out of the car while his pastor tells them to take the car and anything they want, just "leave us alone!" One of the masked men pompously says, "How you gonna tell me what to do? Y'know what? I'm gonna shoot you anyways just for opening yo' mouf!" He grabs the pastor as his buddies, now frightened of their own friend, take off in his car. He takes off his mask, revealing himself to be a black man, and says, "Prepare to meet your maker, bitch!"

What Tom's pastor doesn't know is that Tom's packing a dual-action semi-automatic pistol that he purchased "just for this type of situation; when a n****r tries to fuck with me." Before he can pull out his weapon, the masked man fires his gun at the pastor, mortally wounding him in the head from point blank. As he points the gun at Tom and says, "Now it's your turn, punk!", Tom whips his out and blasts him; 3 shots in the chest.

End scenario.

The point of this example is that, although Tom's views of black men were stereotyping a large demographic based on one incident, his hate for black men prepared him to defend his own life that day. Sure, it was a coincidence that he had the gun at the time of being threatened, but think about if he didn't hate black men. Think about what went through his head. Was he scared? Or was he angry? Fear often causes a momentary paralysis, while anger is an energy that can be channeled. It is quite possible that Tom wouldn't have been able to defend his own life if he wasn't fueled by his hatred for the assailant, however misguided it may be.

Tom's scenario may just be an anecdote, but it proves that, when it comes to life or death, hatred can temporarily be a virtue.