I-Hate
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. I hold no designations in politics, economics or medicine. I am retired from the mental health field. I am a humanitarian and speak from that viewpoint only. Whether you agree with me or not, at least I hope it makes you think. This week I look at hate and its causes, cures and some things I hate. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!
First, I don’t know if it is a good idea to focus on hate, but nonetheless many people seem bent on doing so. So, before I go into a rant, it is best to define it. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hate as: “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti.... This is one of the statements on the page about hate. There are a few others. It seems the most inclusive and other statements give finer points…if finer points are the right words. This makes a point that I like to drag out…” it is usually derived from fear, anger or sense of injury”. I have found that to be the most interesting, sad and frightening thing about hate. We now have studies, schools and journals out to try to investigate this (eg. The Journal of Hate Studies https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/cen... and The Centre for Hate Studies https://le.ac.uk/hate-studies/research ). Some ground work for those who have an interest in addressing or understanding this better. This is an area ripe for study and finding ways to abolish hate. It seems to be a terrible scourge that has done more damage to humanity than anything else.
The one thing that I find there is a lot of in this world seems to be hate. It is phenomenal to me the hate directed at the LGBTQ+ community and that people would go so far as to abolish someone in drag reading to children but yet, seem happy enough for these same children to be used as target practice for shooters in schools and see nothing wrong with it. This article addresses the political struggle for reading to children while dressed in drag https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-p.... I cannot see someone dressed in drag as being a threat. The sad thing about this is that they make up such a small percentage of the population. It seems rather strange to be so frightened by them. They aren’t the ones going around shooting their kids in their schools. Still other’s focus on Asian people https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-co... and others on other races https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-fl... and these are just two examples. These are recent and one can just follow their news feed and find all such information on this. Of course, there are also religious groups being targeted. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/repor... For example, there seems an increase in anti-Semitic crimes. This makes things frightening for people. One of the problems is a historical one in that Jewish people have been targeted by Europeans for centuries. It had become ingrained. We also have hate crimes against First Nations People https://www.albertanativenews.com/off... . In this article there is suggestion that it is under-reported for reason of the historical treatment at the hands of law etc in Canada. Now, this is also a possible problem for many of the minority groups. I use minority groups to describe the groups that have been marginalized over time. So, it is something that we need to be aware of. We only see the tip of the ice berg. We don’t see the comments, the things said by people without thinking that cause pain and don’t get reported. We don’t see everything and we cannot know the true rate of issues caused. I cannot hope to give all the examples in this short blog post, but this gives a small overview.
At the same time, there are also many articles on how to prevent hate crimes in the area. https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/te... is just one article I picked at random that deals with how to fight hate in your community. It can be done. I would never suggest someone endanger their own lives. I would suggest that maybe official channels need to be employed. In fact, they do encourage reporting of hate crimes. They point out that hate sometimes masquerades as civic pride movements. Don’t be fooled. This article tells you some actions that you can take. The most important thing that they suggest is that you educate yourself. They also suggest that people need to be aware and not follow the finger pointing route. They give examples of what this means. It seems to be an illness that can affect whole communities and destroy whole groups. This is actually a very interesting article and I would suggest that it would make good reading for those who are interested. This article also gives advice on dealing with hate speech. https://www.stompoutbullying.org/blog... and suggests ‘counterspeech’ which they suggest exists of “speaking up about equality, inclusivity, and diversity”. This seems a logical step in dealing with it. Sometimes I wonder if pointing out the negative is giving them more ‘press time’ than they deserve and helping the ‘dark side’. This is something that everyone has to decide for themselves.
It is not a new idea to respect each other and end hate. Hate speech and hate crimes have been around at least since ancient Rome where it became a thing to feed Christians to the Lions https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-lib... and probably longer. As Dwight D Eisenhower is credited with saying, “This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” Politically it is interesting where this comes from. If you want to be shocked look it up. How can we have come so far from this sentiment? Is this misquoted…have they changed their minds? An interesting thing to consider with this quote is the originating party.
As far back as the time of Confucius people were exploring and talking about hate and love, “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.” So, readers and listeners, it is something that we all need to consider. Do we want a bitter world or a better world? You have a choice, you have a voice, you have a life and you need to decide how to make it count. I see people stand up to negative rhetoric on Twitter. I follow people who use their power to try to confront hate and work toward a better world. Some of them are elderly now. It is up to the next generations to also help to bear this burden and stand up for what is right, good and caring in this world. If not, we may not have a world to live on. Hate seems to act like a virulent virus on the people it infects. I end this post with a thought from Booker T Washington who said, “I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.” I still like to think that the wielding the power of kindness, love and compassion will still overcome the powers of hate and darkness. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope it makes you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
First, I don’t know if it is a good idea to focus on hate, but nonetheless many people seem bent on doing so. So, before I go into a rant, it is best to define it. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hate as: “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti.... This is one of the statements on the page about hate. There are a few others. It seems the most inclusive and other statements give finer points…if finer points are the right words. This makes a point that I like to drag out…” it is usually derived from fear, anger or sense of injury”. I have found that to be the most interesting, sad and frightening thing about hate. We now have studies, schools and journals out to try to investigate this (eg. The Journal of Hate Studies https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/cen... and The Centre for Hate Studies https://le.ac.uk/hate-studies/research ). Some ground work for those who have an interest in addressing or understanding this better. This is an area ripe for study and finding ways to abolish hate. It seems to be a terrible scourge that has done more damage to humanity than anything else.
The one thing that I find there is a lot of in this world seems to be hate. It is phenomenal to me the hate directed at the LGBTQ+ community and that people would go so far as to abolish someone in drag reading to children but yet, seem happy enough for these same children to be used as target practice for shooters in schools and see nothing wrong with it. This article addresses the political struggle for reading to children while dressed in drag https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-p.... I cannot see someone dressed in drag as being a threat. The sad thing about this is that they make up such a small percentage of the population. It seems rather strange to be so frightened by them. They aren’t the ones going around shooting their kids in their schools. Still other’s focus on Asian people https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-co... and others on other races https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-fl... and these are just two examples. These are recent and one can just follow their news feed and find all such information on this. Of course, there are also religious groups being targeted. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/repor... For example, there seems an increase in anti-Semitic crimes. This makes things frightening for people. One of the problems is a historical one in that Jewish people have been targeted by Europeans for centuries. It had become ingrained. We also have hate crimes against First Nations People https://www.albertanativenews.com/off... . In this article there is suggestion that it is under-reported for reason of the historical treatment at the hands of law etc in Canada. Now, this is also a possible problem for many of the minority groups. I use minority groups to describe the groups that have been marginalized over time. So, it is something that we need to be aware of. We only see the tip of the ice berg. We don’t see the comments, the things said by people without thinking that cause pain and don’t get reported. We don’t see everything and we cannot know the true rate of issues caused. I cannot hope to give all the examples in this short blog post, but this gives a small overview.
At the same time, there are also many articles on how to prevent hate crimes in the area. https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/te... is just one article I picked at random that deals with how to fight hate in your community. It can be done. I would never suggest someone endanger their own lives. I would suggest that maybe official channels need to be employed. In fact, they do encourage reporting of hate crimes. They point out that hate sometimes masquerades as civic pride movements. Don’t be fooled. This article tells you some actions that you can take. The most important thing that they suggest is that you educate yourself. They also suggest that people need to be aware and not follow the finger pointing route. They give examples of what this means. It seems to be an illness that can affect whole communities and destroy whole groups. This is actually a very interesting article and I would suggest that it would make good reading for those who are interested. This article also gives advice on dealing with hate speech. https://www.stompoutbullying.org/blog... and suggests ‘counterspeech’ which they suggest exists of “speaking up about equality, inclusivity, and diversity”. This seems a logical step in dealing with it. Sometimes I wonder if pointing out the negative is giving them more ‘press time’ than they deserve and helping the ‘dark side’. This is something that everyone has to decide for themselves.
It is not a new idea to respect each other and end hate. Hate speech and hate crimes have been around at least since ancient Rome where it became a thing to feed Christians to the Lions https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-lib... and probably longer. As Dwight D Eisenhower is credited with saying, “This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” Politically it is interesting where this comes from. If you want to be shocked look it up. How can we have come so far from this sentiment? Is this misquoted…have they changed their minds? An interesting thing to consider with this quote is the originating party.
As far back as the time of Confucius people were exploring and talking about hate and love, “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.” So, readers and listeners, it is something that we all need to consider. Do we want a bitter world or a better world? You have a choice, you have a voice, you have a life and you need to decide how to make it count. I see people stand up to negative rhetoric on Twitter. I follow people who use their power to try to confront hate and work toward a better world. Some of them are elderly now. It is up to the next generations to also help to bear this burden and stand up for what is right, good and caring in this world. If not, we may not have a world to live on. Hate seems to act like a virulent virus on the people it infects. I end this post with a thought from Booker T Washington who said, “I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.” I still like to think that the wielding the power of kindness, love and compassion will still overcome the powers of hate and darkness. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope it makes you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
No comments have been added yet.
A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
...more
- E. Jean Simpson's profile
- 2 followers
