HATE is a strong word.

[gene]

Thanks Gene - HATE is a strong word.

SteveA posted this on another topic in response to me being a bit silly, and I didn't want to hijack that topic, too much, so I started a new thread on the topic of hate.

I would agree that hate is a strong word. However, have you ever gotten a shot of adrenalin along with a massive dose of self righteous indignation from disliking someone?

Hate is addictive. Just look around our world, country, state, county, town, neighborhood. The news media primarily reports on people who are addicted to hate. And the majority of people who read/listen to the news are either addicted to hate or addicted to watching people who are addicted to hate, or both. What is the primary content for most of our TV shows and movies? Hate.

Give someone the middle finger and scream at them "I dislike you!!!" LOL It just doesn't have the same 'ring' to it.

"Can't we all just get along?" Rodney King.

Nope. We can't. Too much hate.

gene

[SteveA]

Gene - you made my point -  the root of hate is lack of education.  The schools need to get going and figure out what they are doing wrong.  Hate comes from ignorance - education can cure that -   are conservative values not a good thing anymore.
SA

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Yup, we are all about self-righteous indignation.

Flipping someone off while saying how much you "dislike" them would not make you feel nearly so good.

I don't succeed but I do try not to hate and I also try to not let anger get the best of me because both use up so much negative energy.  I'm old enough that I need to conserve my energy not wastefully use it up.  LOL  I have a hard time in succeeding with not hating when the drunks across the street crank up their music so that it makes my windows rattle and then proceed to start play fighting as it's only a matter of time before it becomes serious fighting.  I work at not hating them every time I see them come back from the convenience store with a case of beer in hand.  UGH!  

So, how can we, in some small way, help to reverse the flow of hate in this country?  I'm deadly serious in asking this.  Kinda like the Random Acts of Kindness or Paying It Forward.  I like to think that we should be able to start a campaign to slow all the hate that we see in this country.  Would be kind of cool if we started it here!

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Gene - you made my point -  the root of hate is lack of education.  The schools need to get going and figure out what they are doing wrong.  Hate comes from ignorance - education can cure that -   are conservative values not a good thing anymore.
SA

I think maybe the conservative values we grew up with in the 50's and 60's were ok.  The conservative values I see today embody hate in its worst form.  I have a serious problem with the conservative politicians who say they have values.  See Sarah Palin and her brood just for starters. 

I think that the conservatives who preach values want to take us back to segregation, women that stay home barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen whether they want to or not.

I think that children are healthiest and happiest when they grow up in a two parent family where those two people are strongly committed.  I don't think that two people should stay in a marriage "for the children" because the children know when the parents are not happy and the children then blame themselves.  How you get a strongly committed two parent family I don't know -- I do know that religion is NOT always the answer.  I saw lots of children beaten by good Christian people who went to church every Sunday, then came home and got drunk, beat their kids, whipped the dogs and then got the wife pregnant again even though they really could not afford another child but that was what their church taught them to do.

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I should make sure that it is understood that I do not hate Christians or organized religion.  It is just used to hate oftentimes.  I know people who go to church faithfully who are not Christians in any sense of the word and I know people who do not go to church who try very hard to live by Christ's teachings.  My last set of foster parents, IMO, were true Christians in just about every sense of the word. 

Virginia

[SteveA]

If I could turn the clock back and live in  the 50's + 60's I would.  Sara Palin - please tell me that this one person is not the only basis for an example.  I also don't think there is anyone who promotes segregation - barefoot - etc.
And yes you can tell a tree by the fruit it bares !

[sofadoc]

As with all problems facing the world today, is there really more hate going on? Or does the media just makes us more aware of it? I would think that worldwide hate was at an all-time high during WW2.

Is crime as rampant and uncontrollable as it was during the heyday of Prohibition and the mob?

The media would have us believe that disease is ravaging mankind like never before. But I'd much rather take my chances remaining healthy today than 100 years ago.

If I could turn the clock back and live in  the 50's + 60's I would.

In a heartbeat, I would go back to Mayberry, and live next door to Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bea. I'd have me a little upholstery shop next to Floyd the barber. I'd walk down to the gas station for a pop, where me and Goober would laugh every time we saw Barney doing something goofy.

Of course, then I would see Andy walking with Helen Crump (the only hot chick in town), and I would hate him for it. Then the cycle of hate would start all over again.  ;)

Customers would start complaining that 50 bucks is WAY too much to recover a couch. My old Singer would constantly break down, and Emmit's Fix-It shop would NEVER fix it right. Everyone would start taking their furniture to a shop in Mt. Pilot.

I would end up sitting in front of my shop all day angry and bitter, and blaming the current administration for all my woes........................OK, on second thought I guess I'll just stay right where I am.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Seriously, you would go back to the 50's.  

The 50's:

Blacks sit on the back of the bus, cannot eat at the same lunch counters as whites, different schools, etc.

Women are expected to marry, have babies, stay home and say soothing things to hubby after a hard day's work.  If a woman was raped, she was afraid to report it as the authorities and most everyone else would tell her that she was walking, dressing or talking in a manner that let that poor, poor man know that she really did "want it".

Girls are trained at a young age that even if they are smarter than the good looking but dumb jock, they must not let him know it or they will never get to go to the big dance with him.

Everyone pretty much stayed in the circle in which they were born:  polish only married polish, germens only married germens, etc.

No thanks.

On the plus side of the 50's, gas was cheap as was most essentials.  We could live on one parent's salary.  Crime was pretty low but there were the occasional mass murders, such as the Chicago nursing students dorm murders.  We were much less informed about the world which probably made us much happier.

Seriously overall, no as a woman, I would NEVER EVER want to go back to that time period.  I got my first real job in 1974 at Mutual of Omaha.  My only choices were to be a secretary, receptionist, mail room opening mail or my job -- tour guide.  The men were given choices such as computer programmer, underwriter, etc.  When I was a senior in high school, I went to the guidance counselor about going to collage.  He asked me did I want to be a Nurse or a Teacher -- ugh -- never, ever want women to have to go back to that kind of existence.  NEVER!

As far as Sarah Palin.  No, there are other examples.  Pat Robertson know that he was brought up in the Halloween thread is another example.  Quite a few of the Republican Candidates come to mind.  Mr. Anthony Wiener not because he hates but just because he is such a flippin' hypocrite.

I don't think that enough people read enough to understand what is going on.  They listen to sound bites and they hear a candidate talk about good old family values so they cast their vote for them.  2 or 4 or 6 years later, they shake their head about how nothing is getting done in Washington but if they had read they would have seen where their candidate vowed to stop Mr. Obama from getting anything done so the Government was shut down.  Yet when that candidate came up for re-election, they vote for him/her again because of the family values sound bites.  Then, what really fries me is that they say both parties do it.  Nope, not once during Reagan, Bush I or Bush II did candidates ever go to Washington promising to prevent any of those presidents from doing their jobs.  Has happened at every election since BHO was elected president and man is it being said during this campaign.  McConnell is frothing at the bit to become the Senate Majority leader so that BHO will become the most lame duck president in the history of the USA.  Again, all of these candidates are running on good ole' conservative family values.  Oh and they all want to tell me what to do with my uterus (if I still had one), including what forms of birth control (none if they eventually get their way) but boy do they want to make sure that their insurance pays for their little blue pills (.v.i.a.g.r.a.).  Horrendous hypocrisy.  Perhaps the worst one is that they decry abortion as the worst thing ever -- killing the unborn.  Then once those babies are born, they slash food stamps, actually take their lunches away if their parents haven't been able to pay the school lunch bill, and worse.  

Having said that, I get frustrated at children having children for example.  I used to work ER in Kentucky/Ohio.  I saw the generational replay of having children with no participating father(s) and having multiple children before they were out of their teens.  I don't pretend to know how to stop it.  I do know that touting family values while slashing the only support that those children who do not ask to be born has is NOT the answer.  I would love to see it stop but I know what has been done in the past and what is going on now is NOT the answer.  Our proportion of poor is growing, children go to bed hungry and cold and it's only getting worse.  I seriously fear for those who cannot fend for themselves if McConnell and company get control of both parties come this Tuesday.  Their idea of family values brings tears of compassion for the less fortunate to my eyes because once upon a time, I depended on the social programs that are now so popular to cut by those great compassionate conservatives in Washington.

Virginia

[SteveA]

Without a doubt - back to the 50's when you didn't need gates on your windows, Medco locks, and Families were closer.  With a choice I take Palin over Biden - not to say she is exemplary but a good strong woman - salt of the earth.    -   If you call to join  - the door is always open.  Peace be with you !  I submit to your good judgment !
SA

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

If "salt of the earth" means placing crosshairs over Gabby Giffords (and other) names that Palin was targeting, then I hope no one ever refers to me as "salt of the earth".  My choice would probably be neither Biden nor Palin but if I must choose one, it is Biden in a landslide.  Yours is a door I do not chair to pass through and comments such as yours give me little hope for this once great Country. 

Out here.

[gene]

SofaD, I wonder if Aunt Bea might be able to ease your mind a bit. I'm talking about her cooking!!! Come on. Get your minds out of the gutter.  :)

I do think you gave a great example of how life works. Mayberry is a great place because we do not live there. We idolize and worship and lust after movie stars because we never have to smell their farts and burps or clean up the vomit when they get sick. The grass is always greener on the other side only because we are not on the other side.

I had a college professor in philosophy who always said, "What must I do to live the good life?" Wishing I was somewhere else never seemed to do it for me.

I never found Barney Fife to be funny. Irritating, yes. Funny, no.

gene

[mike802]

Hate:  Does anyone really hate?, or are we just socially programed to believe we do?  I for one do not hate, yes I become angry, annoyed, upset, frustrated, but justifiable anger is normal, even healthy, it's what one does with it that matters.  

I think it's important to realize that sometimes we are justified in our anger, or other emotions. Then think it through and decide just why we feel how we feel, I have had times when this took days to sort out.  Then deal with it and let it go.

It's also important to understand we can't change anyone!  The only one you can change is yourself.  If you want to change the world you have to realize you can only change it one person at a time and that one person is yourself.  Others will see the positiveness in you and want to emulate it, and thus through changing yourself, someone else decides to change as well.

I think once we realize that we are not responsible for other peoples behavior that feeling of "hate" goes away, and we realize it for what it is, our own frustration towards ourselves for not being able to change people.

I believe in karma and what energy you put forth into the world you will receive back.  So many people see Karma working only in the negative, but it is a positive force as well.  If you send out negativity, you will get negativity, if you send out positivity, you will receive positivity.  If you don't believe me, check it out, when walking around people, smile at them, most will smile back, scowl at then and most will return the favor.

As Gandhi once said "Be the change you want to see in the world"

[byhammerandhand]

I'm not the moderator, but can I blow the whistle on this and suggest that we stop the political and religious discussions?    There are lots of other places for that.

[sofadoc]

I can't think of anyone that I truly hate. There are a lot of people that I will never attend the same outdoor cookout with. We'll never go  to a Cowboy or Ranger game together. And if we see each other in the grocery store, we'll probably not really acknowledge each other.

But when forced to socially interact with those people, I tend to go out of my way to be nicer to them than you might expect. And for the most part, they usually reciprocate.

[SteveA]

Keith
I agree - not characteristic of the site but curious that you draw a line in the sand.  Content goes in many directions here - it's interesting to read folks points of view and maybe even defend your own. I guess it's a slow news week here ?
SA