Hate

Hate

We are constantly hearing about how bad it is to hate. This is a complete misconception. The OED defines hate as “feel intense dislike for or a strong aversion towards”. The concept has nothing intrinsically to do with prejudice or violence or persecution. Hate is not somehow unethical or irrational; nor is it psychologically damaging and hence imprudent. You can hate the taste of gooseberries and be guilty of no sin. You can hate modern art or lounge music or ballroom dancing and not be a bad person. There is no virtue in loving these things, if that’s the way you feel. Moreover, it is correct to hate some things (and love others): cruelty, racial prejudice, murder, indifference to suffering, injustice, etc. These are bad things, so you have every right to hate them. By all means hate hatred if it is bad and unjust. What else should you feel? Not love, to be sure, and not indifference (no one ever says “All you need is indifference”). What about the people guilty of hateful things (attitudes, actions)—can you hate them? I don’t see why not, remembering that people are complex and may be good in some ways and bad in others (is anyone ever all bad?). You can hate them in so far as they are hateful—despicable, detestable, vile. You can hate people “under a description”. You can hate X for being F but not for being G. You feel intense dislike of X for being F (you might quite like X in other ways). How can you like or love a person for being a certain way without simultaneously disliking or hating someone for being the opposite (e.g., kind versus cruel)? There are plenty of people I hate for what they have done—justifiably, rationally, fairly (me not them). You can even have general hatreds, as long as the group concerned has really done hateful things. Of course, you can stop hating people if they have made amends or seen the error of their ways; hatred my not be, like diamonds, forever—though it may be and often is. Certainly, you must be careful with your hatreds (you can be more profligate with your loves); you mustn’t hate unfairly or indiscriminately or too much. But hatred as such is perfectly normal and even desirable. If you don’t hate certain politicians, there is something wrong with you. I grant that many people hate without sense or reason, and that there is far too much of it around (and always has been), but I don’t think it should be banned or discouraged tout court. There used to be love-ins; I don’t see why hate-ins should not also be organized. Let’s not knock hate, just keep it in its proper place. A sound moral psychology will include both love and hate, each with appropriate objects. And let’s not condemn love-hate relationships; they too can have their uses and justifications.