Opinion: We're Becoming a Nation of Haters
Updated: 3 days 8 hours ago
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Noah Blumenthal
Special to AOL News
(July 9) -- California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa takes pride in opposing the Obama administration. Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman and Nancy Pelosi played that role when George W. Bush was in office. Keith Olbermann provides a nightly list of "Worst Persons in the World," a personal hate list as much as anything. And Rush Limbaugh's hate rants range from drug addicts to illegal immigrants to, of course, all things liberal. The BP oil disaster spawned hate ranging from The Wall Street Journal to ihatebp.com.

There is a trend in America in which we are more and more idolizing people who have at the base of their identity the spread of hate. These people are considered entertaining because of the controversy and the extremism they represent. But our consumption of their product is creating a culture in which hate is heroic.

Every one of these individuals (and so many of their colleagues in the news and in politics) thrives on the message that you should hate someone. You should hate people with opposing political views or different life experiences or different social needs. It doesn't really matter what their defining characteristic is, just make sure you hate.

When was the last time anything great was built out of hate?

The politicians and pundits who thrive on hatred do so at the expense of the political process. Their agendas are not the betterment of our society nearly so much as they are the stroking of their own egos. Every call to hate -- each shriek of moral outrage -- pushes honest solutions and improvements to our society to the back burner while we instead focus our attention on the self-aggrandizing personality, rather than on the problems at hand.

Hate has become a national currency in America. It is our first and favorite reaction to politics and business. And it will continue to be our favorite emotion so long as the likes of Limbaugh and Olbermann are the heroes we choose.

During the Cold War we were fueled not so much by hatred but by fear. We were afraid of what communism might do to us. We were afraid of nuclear war. We were afraid of losing to the USSR. Fear isn't a great emotion either, but a common external fear created some tremendous internal benefits. Fear of losing led Americans to work harder, build more, innovate and create the wealthiest and most powerful country in the history of the world.

Today we don't fear nearly as much as we hate. We hate Islam for 9/11 and our current challenges in Iran and Iraq. And increasingly we hate each other for even the most minor differences of opinion in political policy and personal choices.

We need a new set of heroes. We need people to step up to take on the icons of hate, not to beat them at their own game, but rather to change the rules. We need more heroes who will speak both of building something great and of doing so without tearing someone else down in the process.

There are alternatives. Just one example is a story almost lost among the vuvuzelas and the referee errors at this year's World Cup, where an effort was made to use the platform of this enormous sporting event, being held for the first time on the continent of Africa, to promote the idea of ending racism.

We can sit passively waiting for these heroes to arrive or we can make a conscious effort to seek them out. Tune out and turn off those whose agenda is tilted toward tearing down. Lower their TV and radio ratings. Reduce their votes at the polls.

Once we tune out the hate we can turn our attention to seeking out the builders, the people whose message will create the kind of country of which we can be proud, the people we would be proud to have as heroes, who we want our kids to have as heroes, who our parents and grandparents would choose as heroes.

It's time to end the hate war, before it ends us.

Noah Blumenthal is author of the national best seller "Be the Hero" and was named by Leadership Excellence magazine as one of the world's "Top 100 Minds in Personal Development." Read his blog on Red Room.

http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/article/opinion-were-becoming-a-nation-of-haters/19547053

I agree.

The hatemongerers are having a field day in this country these days.

I am glad to see there are those who can see through all the hatred.

The hate mongers I encounter are also the war mongers and race baiters of all sorts. It's disappointing to see such destructive and divisive irrationality. Unlike your usual posts, this one actually has some good points, though they are too superficial to be relevant to most audiences.

Just look in the mingle politics threads and see the people who just want to kill brown people, innocent or not. It's disgusting.

yes, we a nation of 'haters'!!

Hate, or even fear, is an easy sell, and we love a sale in this country. It's actually a large part of the country's history. Hatred of the English, followed by hatred of Slavery, of Indians, of Empires, of Nazis and Japs, of Russians. Up until now we've been able to keep our hatred focused on one cause at a time, but we've diversified.

The problem is, we have no real enemies left. We are the ones that are hated an loathed and we just don't know how to deal with it. We seem to attack the problem the only way we know how --- by attacking. If we used the Peace Corps as often as we used the Marine Corps we'd be a lot better off, both in world standing and economically.

The government and the media just don't see it that way. They are both to blame equally on hate mongering. The government for being reactionary and foolish, and the media for encouraging it.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if we do not mend our ways, we all will live to see the end of American Society.

hate is not just an american thing...hate has been around forever, and will be around after were all turned to dust...people will always hate, and everyone does hate something or someone...it's our nature as humans.

I don't

thats interesting, coming from someone that hates all governments...

yea, i know...

I don't have the time or energy to hate.

That's so awesome! I wuv u, Lori! ~hugs~

Hating unjust institutions is not destructive. Perhaps "hate" is the wrong word, really. I came to my conclusions about government empirically and rationally. More accurately, all governments are illegitimate by their nature and should not exist. The only exception would be a Voluntaryist government, which would defy the practices of all previous governments.

Americans for the most part are ignorant and believe everything that is put out on the news (which is for the most part biased towards the moderate or liberal perspective. We think the rest of the world is like the USA and if it is not, they are wrong. The solution is to do what Israel does, which all subjects have to serve two years in the Military. It should be something that gets us out of our country to see what people and their different cultures are really like. Sure they are different, but so are we to them. Are we better than those from other countries, NO! We are all human beings who live and who die. We make good choices and we make bad choices. No one is perfect and no one is exactly like another. Take people for who they are and not by hearsay. Make the effort to find out for yourself if the person is the enemy or the system they are under. Ignorance is not bliss! Yes, I have lived overseas 6 years of my life, and I speak from experience and what I have seen with my own eyes. There is no reason to hate another.

I may disagree with a lot of people about different issues, but I don't actually hate anyone or anything... not even my ex mother in law.... who's done some really bad things.

Americans need to be more open minded, every giant media group has their party and their agenda, and try to influence the public.

Hatred is the most destructive of emotions, next to jealousy and apathy.

Although people try to justify hatred as a motivator ie the
Declaration of Independence was full of derogatory remarks about the King of England. I do not believe the motivating factor there was hatred, I believe that the motivator there was the fight of oppression.

The fight of oppression can be mistaken for hatred and if someone is not healthy in the mind can turn into hatred but the real motivator is the desire to live as freely as possible.

As long as there are governments there will never be complete freedom, so the hype is not accurate about freedom in this country. We may be the freeest country in the world but we are not completely free and noone will ever be until they die.

A person can disagree vehemently with others and not hate them but once they discount the others as unworthy of respect, unworthy of life and unworthy of consideration at a human level then the lines of hatred have been crossed and nothing good comes from it.

I have found that if we (humans) lump a group of people into one unworthy group such as "liberals" or by race it is easier to falsely separate them from ourselves, making it a "them" versus "us" situation and setting the ground work for acts of hatred and discrimination.

Not being able to be in another person's shoes, really makes any judgment of others a false start at best without taking the time to know them individually.

The problem with other countries hating us, is that we have to take responsibility for their upset with us first and then correct our behavior.

We bully other countries. We did Iraq and Afghan for the most recent "bullying" but there are many more.

They cannot bully us at any level.

So the playing ground is not level.

Making us unfair and unjust.

Making us the oppressors and others the oppressed.

So maybe they are fighting oppression and not hating???

So I went off on a tangent or I took it wrong??? Sorry.

Totally agree but I do see headway. I have been active in politics most of my adult life. I have worked on numerous campaigns but quit in 2006 because of the negative nature of politics. No real governing just constant campaigning. There is a tremendous amount of good organizations, philanthropists and entrepreneurs (way to many to name here) who are making social change (not socialism) by collaborating and corroborating to make sure they have a positive impact on both the bottom line and the community.

The new breed are eco-capitilists, who believe that there is nothing wrong with making money as long as you engage your stakeholders including your community in corporate decisions. I am trying to stay away from politics on this form but maybe I can share some of what I have introduced here in a later post.

Hate is too easy...it takes courage and strength to love and spread love.

feel free to, i would like to hear more... i always hear that money is the root of all evil, but i tend to think it is the evil.