A World of Hate

[herme3]

Has anyone ever thought about how much anger and hate there is in the world? Although it may appear peaceful where you live, watching the news will probably show you how much hate there is in the world. Just think about it. There are some poor counties that are jealous of wealthy nations. Some people in these poor countries become so jealous and angry that they feel the need to attack the innocent civilians in the wealthy nations. Of course, the solution of the wealthy nations is to bomb and attack the people of the poor nations. It seems like the only way countries respond to violence is with more violence. If people are killed, the only solution our leaders can find is to kill more people.

 

There is even violence within developed nations. People always find reasons to hate and fight each other. If two people are different from each other, they often believe one is right and the other is wrong. Why can’t we all just accept that we all are humans? We are capable of communicating and reasoning with each other. We should realize our differences, and learn how to accept them.

 

In other cases, people feel the need to steal and harm innocent people. In return, the victims feel the need to get revenge. If somebody gets killed, the solution is usually to kill someone else. Did you know that it actually costs more money to legally execute someone than to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives? So, if a murderer is confined within prison and unable to harm another person, what is the purpose of spending more money to kill him or her? The only reason is revenge and hate.

 

Now, I admit that I’m not a perfect person. I can often be just as angry and hateful as any other person. If I happened to have a girlfriend, I could not imagine how I would feel if somebody murdered her. I would probably want the murderer to be captured and killed even if I had to pay for it myself. Yes, it would be an act of revenge. However, the revenge would just be part of human instinct. If somebody so close to your heart is suddenly taken away, I don’t think anybody would be able to control their hate and desire for revenge. Some people may not desire a death penalty, but the deep hatred will still be there.

 

However, from a logical point of view, anger and hate do not make sense. Why must humans hate each other and desire revenge? Why can’t we just look at each other with feelings of peace? We call ourselves an intelligent species, yet our deepest instinct is to hate each other. I believe that our world leaders have more anger and hate than most people. After the horrible terrorist attacks in the United States, the first reaction seemed to be to get out the weapons and go kill some people. Instead of focusing on defense, the US focused on offense. Of course, I cannot criticize the President or any other leader for this action. If I had been President, I might have done the same thing. Unfortunately, it all just seems to be human instinct.

[Royston]

Did it ever occur to you that it's your fault there's so much hate in the world herme3, you and you alone.

[GutZ]

Free will and Instinct goes a long way. Hate isn't great, but anger isn't bad. Lack of control is more the problem, It takes more effort to calm down then it is to get angry. We are the most intellegent creatures on this planet, but that doesn't really mean we are actually intelligent. We have nothing to compare ourselves to so we think we are quite nifty beings. I maybe the smartest out of a certain group but then compare me to others I could look like a fool.

 

This is our race we can't control it because we want the freedom, and we don't have the ability to control everyones actions. We are imperfect, the best we can hope for is smaller degrees of hate and anger, but we will never ever be completely happy.

 

Btw good morning all lol.

[gib65]

Did it ever occur to you that it's your fault there's so much hate in the world herme3, you and you alone.

 

What the hell is this supposed to mean???

 

Yes, the world is getting very violent. To me, it seems like the world is becoming like a dorm that's over packed with people who can't get along. It's globalization! We are becoming so numerous and it's starting to feel like a can of sardines here. This might have been okay if we were all raised to believe in the same things and the same values and such, but we weren't. We all have different religions, different values, different points of view, and we're still holding onto our tribal instincts that tell us "We're right and everyone else is wrong!" This leads to violence in my opinion. I think we start out trying to convert each other to our "tribe's" beliefs and values by peaceful means, but when we notice that none of us want to give up our own beliefs and up bringings just because someone else tells us we're wrong, then we feel that force and coercion is necessary. This might have been okay in primitive times because if two tribes couldn't get along, they could just go back to their own territory and just stay away from each other, but with the advent of globalization and instant communication, we can't just "stay away" from each other. We're constantly in each other's faces - not literally, but through media and inter-mixed cultures, etc. We have to learn a new way of getting along.

 

This is one of the reasons I've given up a platonist perspective of Truth. I prefer to think that no knowledge is absolutely certain knowledge. Instead of treating my beliefs as "The Truth", I treat them as "My Truth" and other people have "Their Truths" and I refrain from judging Their Truths as "wrong" or inferior to mine. Instead, I think of Their Truths as constituting a different reality, one that I can visit, like someone else's home or someone else's country. I can actually enjoy it. I can actually find it interesting or pleasant. I don't have to live there, but I can get along while I'm in there. I think if the world adopted this approach, there'd be so much less war and violence.

 

This is notwithstanding the political and economic motives of some of our world leaders, so not ALL war and violence would be eliminated, but I certainly think the above would help.

[ecoli]

Everyone knows that nothing united a people like a common enemy.

 

That's what the people of Earth need. If we have some sort of alien threat, humanity will unite to fight that threat, and stop fighting each other.

 

(Read Ender's Game for a good example - Of course, in Ender's Game, after the alien threat was defeated, the world descended into anarchy, each country trying to take control, leaving countless dead.)

[Royston]

What the hell is this supposed to mean???

 

A joke perhaps. If it weren't for our little apathetic friend Herme3, all this violence, pain and suffering that goes on day after day after day, will stop. People aren't fighting over their differences, land, money and oil, Herme3 is responsible.

 

errr, perhaps you don't get my sense of humour....ho hum.

[Phi for All]

Perhaps the amount of hate hasn't increased as much as our ability to let everyone in the world know about each act of hate. The media isn't overly fond of reporting on love since it doesn't seem to sell as well as violence.

 

The way media stories are presented, they also force us to instantly judge each story very quickly and then move on to the next due to sheer volume. This tends to cause devisiveness within a society due to snap judgements and one-sided arguments.

 

We also have a racial tendency (the human race) to lump things into piles, categories, sets, and lists. And for some strange reason, it seems easier to start with piling all the bad stuff together first. If we have time leftover then we think about the good stuff. Probably has to do with an outdated instinctual threat-assessment technique, but we should really think about changing that.

[1veedo]

I hate all of you.

[Royston]

Perhaps the amount of hate hasn't increased as much as our ability to let everyone in the world know about each act of hate. The media isn't overly fond of reporting on love since it doesn't seem to sell as well as violence.

 

I'm not sure if this is a myth, but isn't China an exception to this rule...I heard the media are restricted to reporting solely good news. They must have quite a different view on current affairs if this is the case.

[Phi for All]

Why must humans hate each other and desire revenge? Why can’t we just look at each other with feelings of peace? We call ourselves an intelligent species, yet our deepest instinct is to hate each other.

I think the key here is to look at individuals. You can't be expected to love everyone since some really don't deserve it. I don't think our instinct is to hate each other so much as we tend to judge individuals too quickly based on very little information. It's the Fundamental Attribution Error at work, and it allows us to *group* people into definable categories. When you actually talk to an individual and get to know them, you find that most people are pretty cool and there is almost always something to like about them.

 

But if you keep people at arm's distance and refuse to get to know them, it becomes relatively easy to hate them eventually.

I'm not sure if this is a myth, but isn't China an exception to this rule...I heard the media are restricted to reporting solely good news. They must have quite a different view on current affairs if this is the case.

I'd love to see someone try that here in the US. A national broadcast with only positive news and some time for your local affiliates to mention practical news like road closures, election results and business highlights. People here *say* they would like to hear more good news, but can they really pull themselves away from the network casts with all the shootings, drug busts and tragedy coverage?

I hate all of you.

Sadly, I don't care enough about you to expend that much energy, but thanks for *your* effort.

[gib65]

A joke perhaps. If it weren't for our little apathetic friend Herme3' date=' all this violence, pain and suffering that goes on day after day after day, will stop. People aren't fighting over their differences, land, money and oil, Herme3 is responsible.

 

errr, perhaps you don't get my sense of humour....ho hum.[/quote']

 

Oops... sorry

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but up here in Canada (or at least, Calgary, Alberta) our news seems to report wars and catastrophies during the international segment, but during local segment, it reports a lot of good news. Of course, whenever there's a local murder or drug bust, they will report it, but they don't refrain from reporting good things when they happen. This might be a strategy for reporting violence to keep the ratings up while making the viewer feel safe since it's not happening close to home. Does the news in the US seem to work like this too?

[Phi for All]

I don't know about the rest of you, but up here in Canada (or at least, Calgary, Alberta) our news seems to report wars and catastrophies during the international segment, but during local segment, it reports a lot of good news. Of course, whenever there's a local murder or drug bust, they will report it, but they don't refrain from reporting good things when they happen. Is that how it is in the US too?

Absolutely not. I remember Michael Moore pointing this out specifically in Bowling for Columbine. In Canada the news is a very good mix of what's important, both discouraging and uplifting. In the US negativity tends to overshadow everything when it comes to news because no one leaves the room when they start talking about a cache of automatic weapons found in a suburban home. In fact, Moore asked a reporter (or a cameraman, I forget which) which story he would go after if he could only choose one, the weapons cache or a story about a dog saving a baby from drowning. The reporter wouldn't hesitate to go for the weapons. Much more riveting journalism.

[YT2095]

well the OP is more than a little One sided!!!!

 

there`s also a LOT of GOOD in the world too! it`s just that it doesn`t receive as much press coverage as the Bad ones.

that`s all

[Cloud]

AND we're back to where we started. Good show*taps everyone on back*

[SmallIsPower]

There was a mathemetician in 1932, who said most of technologies surpluses, since the Stone Age, most surpulses have been used for war, conventional or economic, and if we learned to coperate, we could live well on 15-20 hours work/week.

Everyone knows that nothing united a people like a common enemy.

 

That's what the people of Earth need. If we have some sort of alien threat' date=' humanity will unite to fight that threat, and stop fighting each other.

 

(Read Ender's Game for a good example - Of course, in Ender's Game, after the alien threat was defeated, the world descended into anarchy, each country trying to take control, leaving countless dead.)[/quote']

 

Reagan said pretty much the same thing.

I couldn't but--one point in our discussions with General Secretary Gorbachev--when you stop to think that we're all God's children, wherever we may live in the world, I couldn't help but say to him, just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species from another planet outside in the universe. We'd forget all the little local differences that we have between our countries and we would find out once and for all that we really are all human beings on this earth together.

 

Well, I don't suppose we can wait for some alien race to come down and threaten us. But I think that between us we can bring about that realization.

 

As for globalisation, I agree it has increased tensions, but not nearly as much as some other ideas, say Nazism.

 

One problem with globalisation that few realise is that the mamilian mind is set up to a certain size of tribe corrosponding to brain volume. In humans the brain corrosponds to a tribe of 150. Anthropolgists have corroborated this empiracally. I used to go to a city council for a city of 40,000. It was readily apparent that they needed better lines of communication, as theirs was to homeowners, and administrators, who played CYA, and were probably a main corupting influnce in the city.

[gib65]

Yeah, I remember reading about that somewhere. I remember reading that the main difference between living in a tribal society and living in a civilization (thousands of people) is that in a tribal society, you could walk through your village and recognize everyone, whereas in a civilization you could walk downtown and recognize no one. In other words, living in a civilization is almost like living among people from different tribes. It's no wonder tensions are higher in big metropolis environments.

[Kylonicus]

I don't think that disasters necessarily always unite. In many cases they are very useful in causing a problem solved by war(such as resource depletion), or they can sometimes be used to justify incredibly evil, vile, governments, who use disasters as a means of justifying their own brutal behavior, such as in the Arab world.

 

 

One of the main reasons why so many Arab nations hate us, is because it helps their governments deflect blame off of them, while unifying the people under the government. If the government says, "look, we have a bigger threat from foreigners", everyone stops trying to kill the dictator in charge, and instead trys to kill the "enemy". Now, it doesn't matter if the enemy is real or not, it just matters whether or not the people think the enemy is real. It doesn't matter if the "enemy" attacks your nation or not, so long as people percieve their nation under attack.

 

Anyways, ultimately what causes most problems I think are ambitions by people whose main ability is political/social control, because ultimately, the easiest way to make money via political/social control is corruption, and so we have alot of corruption, alot of people suffer, and alot of people get mad because of it, causing them to lash out, and the other person to retaliate, and forcing everyone to put up defenses.

[silkworm]

The world is the same as it's always been, only the weapons are better.

 

Watching the news to determine the violence of the world is not a good idea. The news wants to put the bloodiest stuff on the news, because fear sells tickets. Go ahead and look at the news from Vietnam til now and you'll see a lot of the same stuff, and you're also see the reporters getting progressively prettier, dumber, and in chorus as time passes.