Hatred

"Hate" redirects here. For other uses, see Hate (disambiguation).

"Hates" redirects here. For the German singer, see Adrian Hates.

Hatred (or hate) is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world. Though not necessarily, hatred is often associated with feelings of anger and disposition towards hostility against the objects of hatred. Hatred can become very driven. Actions after a lingering thought are not uncommon upon people or oneself. Hatred can go as far as war or just a simple verbal outrage to even oneself commiting suicide for they hate the world or whatever is bothering him/her enough to push the envelope. Hatred can be considered a disease and has been known to be a key part when diagnosing anxiety, depression and sex addiction to over come hateful feelings..

Philosophical views

Philosophers have offered many influential definitions of hatred. René Descartes viewed hate as an awareness that something is bad combined with an urge to withdraw from it. Baruch Spinoza defined hate as a type of pain that is due to an external cause. Aristotle viewed hate as a desire for the annihilation of an object that is incurable by time. David Hume believed that hate is an irreducible feeling that is not definable at all. hahahahahahahahahaha

Psychoanalytic views

In psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud defined hate as an ego state that wishes to destroy the source of its unhappiness. More recently, the Penguin Dictionary of Psychology defines hate as a "deep, enduring, intense emotion expressing animosity, anger, and hostility towards a person, group, or object." Because hatred is believed to be long-lasting, many psychologists consider it to be more of an attitude or disposition than a temporary emotional state.

Neurological research

The neural correlates of hate have been investigated with an fMRI procedure. In this experiment, people had their brains scanned while viewing pictures of people they hated. The results showed increased activity in the middle frontal gyrus, right putamen, bilaterally in the premotor cortex, in the frontal pole, and bilaterally in the medial insular cortex of the human brain. The researchers concluded that there is a distinct pattern of brain activity that occurs when people are experiencing hatred.

Legal issues

A hate crime (also known as a "bias-motivated crime") generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, destruction of property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail). Those who commit hate crimes target victims because of their perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender identity, or political affiliation.

Hate speech is speech perceived to disparage a person or group of people based on their social or ethnic group, such as race, sex, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, ideology, social class, occupation, appearance (height, weight, skin color, etc.), mental capacity, and any other distinction that might be considered by some as a liability. The term covers written as well as oral communication and some forms of behaviors in a public setting. It is also sometimes called antilocution and is the first point on Allport's scale which measures prejudice in a society. In many countries, deliberate use of hate speech is a criminal offence prohibited under incitement to hatred legislation. It is often alleged that the criminalization of hate speech is sometimes used to discourage legitimate discussion of negative aspects of voluntary behavior (such as political persuasion, religious adherence and philosophical allegiance).

Both of these classifications have sparked debate, with counter-arguments such as, but not limited to, a difficulty in distinguishing motive and intent for crimes, as well as philosophical debate on the validity of valuing targeted hatred as a greater crime than general misanthropy and contempt for humanity being a potentially equal crime in and of itself.

See also

• Conflict (disambiguation)
• Discrimination
• Misanthropy
• Self-loathing
• Two Minutes Hate

Further reading

• The Psychology of Hate by Robert Sternberg (Ed.)
• Hatred: The Psychological Descent into Violence by Willard Gaylin
• Why We Hate by Jack Levin
• The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others by Ervin Staub
• Prisoners of Hate: The Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility, and Violence by Aaron T. Beck
• Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing by James Waller