Hatred

My previous blog about confusion was written just in between two manifestations of hatred - the bombing of Beirut, and the massacre in Paris. Both acts were claimed by the Islamic State in what is to be regarded as deeds of pure hatred. You can hate someone personally for something, and maybe even crown that hate with a physical act. But what do you call murdering innocent people in cold blood just to hit someone else? I wouldn't call that hatred anymore. To me, what happened in Beirut and Paris, and in countless other tragic places all over the planet, is not just hatred. It's cowardice.

That said, it would be easy to tell you all not to hate each other, give you all a good feeling and a pretty slice of personal growth, and call it a day. But it's not so easy as that. Far from it.

Self-control can be advised to any individual. Don't do it, don't hit that person, don't kill, stop letting yourself be eaten by that vile negative feeling. And so on. You can achieve a lot by talking sense into a person. Hatred is a basic emotion in any living being of any intelligence, but the moment it starts clouding your conscience and your train of thought, you become hatred, you turn into vengeance, and then it becomes difficult to stop the sequence of what is to come. Hatred and Vengeance are ugly twin sisters having one mother called Cowardice. Hating someone is easier than having the courage to face reality and solve the problem. Why waste time and effort talking to that person, when it's easier to hate them, hit them, kill them? So, talking sense into an individual gives the wished results often enough to make it worth while. I'm sure you all have had experiences in this.

The situation changes drastically when there is hatred sown and growing within a group. Mass psychology runs on a different set of tracks, and is infinitely more difficult to handle. You cannot talk to individuals, because there are no individuals anymore in a group. True to what you find in a herd of cattle of sheep, there exists only a group mentality. And when it's set on hatred and vengeance, cowardice has a good day. Because in a group, everyone feels strong. And solving issues by hateful shouting and violence is a lot quicker than by conversing and exchanging views.

So the following paradox is fed: showing force by hatred in a group, is collective strength, but individual weakness. I'll explain this in more earthly tunes: you think you're so tough and strong because you are in a group. Because you know, that when you stand alone, you would run away in fear. So, again, people who don't feel hatred when solving something, are courageous, strong persons. Solving issues through hatred is done by cowards and weak persons.

That is why populist regimes and dictatorships exploit these feelings within vast groups. Even if hatred is a negative emotion, it's a very powerful, strong emotion. Populist leaders and dictators grow on this dung of negativity, because it constitutes their base of power. The moment - and I sense you catch my drift - that people start rediscovering their inner strength and their courage, and therefore don't need to resort to hatred and vengeance to get what they need, populism is finished. And that can range from a leader in bullying at school, to a vicious populist in politics or a dictator.

It would be all so easy, if humans didn't like to act like cattle, or sheep. But they do. And what we are witnessing in this plagued, confused world of today, is the rise everywhere of people living in fear, and of leaders exploiting that fear. All over the world, democracies and non-democracies alike. Again, I'm not talking specifically about you, or your parents, or your boss or your neighbor or your loved one. I'm talking about mass psychology here. About groups of people, sensing one common goal. The easiest kind. To hurt and kill, and sense that power that comes from doing that. Little people acting as if they were giants. Microbes, cowards, nobodies.

Let us keep a moment of silence for the victims of Beirut and Paris. And those of countless other hapless places as well. Next month, new things will have happened, and Paris will slowly slip into the grey mists of history and eventually, oblivion. Only the ones who have known victims, will never forget what happened. The rest of us will just roll on and live our lives.

As individuals, it would be foolish and arrogant to think that "we" can stop violence in the world. We can't. Violence has always been part of life, and it is a dynamic force pushing this planet back and forth. What we can do, is look around us. And maybe soften that anger within us, our children and others, by just giving one big hug. Or a smile or some assuring words. Because fear, which feeds the cowardice which is the mother of hatred, has to be driven away.

How does the old saying go? To make mistakes is human. But to forgive, is a thing of God. By forgiving, we humans come a step closer to what is called divine, and that is OK. And to forgive is, as many of you will doubtlessly admit, so terribly hard to do sometimes. So what is forgiveness? A show of courage. There you are. The circle is closed. And NOW I will call it a day. Till next blog!