People learn to hate, and if they learn to hate they can be taught to love....?!?!

[Soph0571]

In theory it is a splendid idea, isn’t it? We can take all the haters, have a nice conversation about how wrong they are, give them a big comforting hug and hate becomes love. The racism, homophobia, sexism or whatever hate drum the hater beats disappears and love is miraculously in its place.

Love comes more naturally to the human heart than hate. However some people train themselves to hate over long periods of time….I think we can all name a few! A default position of hate is their comfort zone. Acceptance and love of other is the unchartered waters of the right-wing human condition.

Can haters learn to love? Probably. The bigger question is do they want to? Looking at their behaviours, almost certainly not.

[Towlie]

1. Sorry, but "a nice conversation about how wrong you are" is an offensive approach that doesn't work.

And Mandela's assertion that "love comes more naturally to the human heart" is just wishful thinking, as thousands of years of human warfare have proven.

I certainly don't dispute the virtue of love. I doubt that anyone here does. But unfortunately it's not realistic to pretend that it's easier to sell love than to sell hate. It's not, and that's why our nation is living the nightmare it's living now.

[RKP5637]

6. Sadly hatred sells well in the USA and it's very profitable to some to promote and instill hatred

along with division. Politicians use it as a well oiled machine, as well as some religious outfits and some of MSM. For some it's better than sex or food. It's a basic drive ingrained in them. Trump, for one, lives by the rule of hatred. In the US, it's driving the US to be a pathetic and possibly short-lived democracy ending in chaos and violence, which some haters love. Looking back in history, as you mention, there are endless examples. It is pathetic and very sad, what is happening in the USA.

[watoos]

2. It's sad that I don't remember

the lady's name on the stage at the Democratic debate who was basically pushing love. I admired her guts but sadly, people would probably choose to kick her off the stage first.

[vlyons]

4. I think gthat was Maryanne Williamson

She intrigues me, because her thing is the absence of ethical morality in our political life. She's not my preferred candidate, but I agree with her point of view, at least as it describes today's GOP and unfettered and unregulated corporate capitalism.

[lunasun]

7. ++100%

[vlyons]

3. Hatred is poison

From the Buddhist perspective, hatred is a negative emotion and the most extreme form of anger, which is a form of aggression that arises from the desire that something be different than the way it is. It pops up, when something particularly unpleasant appears to which we experience aversion. Typically, hatred is a long-held habit, an automatic response, lacking mindfulness and contemplative examination. Because it is such an unthinking and automatic response, it is very difficult to overcome. Someone has to really want to overcome and banish hatred from his/her thought process. And then put a lot of effort into catching one's self responding with thoughts of hatred and extreme aversion.

It's a tricky thing, especially when we see cruelty, violence, and pointless stupidity. To me, it seems natural to hate such things.

[watoos]

5. I am just an internet Buddhist

meaning that I have read several books on the subject. I will always remember one of their tenets, "the cause of all suffering is wanting." or something to that effect. I need to go back and read again those books just for my sanity.

[vlyons]

9. that's right

In Buddhism, there are 6 realms of samsara (suffering) that we constantly recycle through. The realms are psychological states. The human realm is the realm of desire. Buddha's 1st teaching was about the 4 Noble Truth. 1. There is suffering. 2. Desire is the cause of suffering. 3. Suffering can cease. (Stop desiring stuff.) 4. There is a pathway to follow to be liberated from suffering (the 8-fold path).

Buddhism is an incredibly vast subject. I've studied Buddhism for 30 years and feel that I am just beginning to see a little light. Keep reading and meditating. It gets better and ever more profound.

Be ever mindful of the shortcomings of desire's rewards.
May all beings rest in the equanimity of no more attachment and no more aversion.

[suegeo]

8. Sociopaths: there is no cure.