Is It Ever OK To Hate Someone?

[Mr. Ected]

As progressives, we all for the most part share a common point of view: we are all created equally, discrimination in any form is morally and legally repugnant, and within the parameters of the rule of law, live and let live is a code to be embraced.

The death penalty is still a contentious subject; some DU'ers seem to support it vigorously, others reject it outright.

So I ask all of you, without regard to religion: is it OK for me to hate the man who buried the little girl alive? My better judgment tells me that capital punishment is sanctioned murder, and I am therefore opposed to it.

But there's a basic human emotion that is still alive in me: the one that tells me to hate this man, regardless of what might have happened in his life to cause him to commit such a heinous crime.

Do you hate him too? Is that wrong?

[DemKR]

1. I hate him, but I practice what I preach

I want to preach: Killing is wrong. Therefore, I will not kill.

[Ron Green]

2. We're gonna hate, because we're human. But the object of the game is to forgive.

Forgive the world, forgive yourself. It's a lifetime project.

[southerncrone]

3. It may sound corny, but

I don't hate the person, only their misguided actions.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

4. ...as I posted when the decision came down

I'd glady put two in his melon, that case stands out in my lifetime as one that makes me boil, I can't even think about it without going insane.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. I've changed. I used to think so. Not so much anymore.

I've come to believe that eventually the hate you put out will return to eviscerate and destroy you. Karma. OTOH, I have no problem with strong negative opinion as it can be kept separate from my spirit.

[Taverner]

6. Hate is merely a suite of chemicals triggered by stimulus

One associated with memories of times in which other chemicals in your system were released by stimulus.

Understanding this puts hate into a different perspective altogether.

[ThomCat]

7. Hell, there's a lot of hatred right here against other DUers.

You are asking the wrong question. It's not whether or not we should hate, but instead, is there any way to stop?

[blues90]

8. I hate bush and cheney

However if I found one of these freaks sinking in quick sand I would by nature probably pull them out . I say this now but I know this about myself and it has nothing to do with religion .

I guess no one knows how deep their hate may be until it's put to a test .

[jgraz]

17. If I found them sinking in quicksand, I'd piss on them as they went down

then I'd go home, have a nice dinner and sleep like a baby.

[Eric J in MN]

9. It's OK to hate someone. NT

NT

[LeftishBrit]

10. Yes, it's OK to hate someone but not to kill them

I really hate people who murder children, or who murder a parent in front of a child; but I still don't think that I or the state have the right to kill them.

[Selatius]

11. If you hold onto the hate for too long, it eats you up inside.

You may not ever become friends with this person, but you should strive to forgive and find peace with yourself. Hopefully, the killer comes to terms with what he has done as well, but even if that weren't true, you should work towards inner peace. This is not to say one should forget what he has done, though.

[gollygee]

12. Absolutely

I hate people. But I don't kill them, and I would rather other people not kill them either.

[porphyrian]

13. Yep, hate is a natural human emotion.

It's a negative emotion, and some people believe we should avoid all negative emotion. However, I don't believe feeling any emotion is wrong. Actions can be right or wrong, not feelings.

[chefgirl]

14. In a perfect world, no.

I struggle with this question every day of my life, every time I see our idiot President or hear his voice.
It's an emotion I believe I should fight, and that I believe diminishes me, but try as I might, I cannot overcome it.

When it comes to people like the one you mention in your OP, no, I don't hate him, but I AM furiously angry about the things he did in his life, over and over again...most aggregiously, the killing of little Jessica.

I also believe its right to oppose the death penalty, for two major reasons. The first reason I'm opposed to it is the obvious. It IS just as wrong for the govt. to kill as it is for an individual. The second reason is because I believe its just not punishment enough.

People who are sentenced to the death penalty are, ostensibly, sentenced that way because they've committed the most heinous of crimes. Given that fact, why should they be given the easy way out? Why are they allowed to just 'go to sleep'? IMO, the real punishment would be to give them life without chance of parole, in a windowless cell, without the comforts of home, to sit and rot for the rest of their natural life.

Seems to me if I were her parent, it would give me great satisfaction to know that every single day that monster is rethinking what he did, and will have to rethink it again and again till the end of his days.
Now that sounds like punishment to me.

Just my $.02

-chef-

[grannylib]

15. I hate what he did; hating him is a waste of energy. It's totally natural, I think,

for a short time and to a degree, to feel hatred or loathing for one who does heinous things. But hating of itself does no harm to the one you hate, unless you act in some way on that hatred. So even if it were OK to want to harm this person (and I'm not for a moment saying it is) your hatred alone is not accomplishing that; it's more likely poisoning and embittering YOU.

So in one sense, yes, it's natural. In another, it's wrong on several levels.

As a good liberal, I say you get to pick which it is for you, as long as your choice isn't infringing on the right of someone else to make his/her own decision.

[BlackVelvet04]

16. Why hate him?

What does it do to him? Nothing. What does it do to you? Nothing good.

Hate is a powerful emotion that enslaves the one who hates and does nothing to the hated.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

18. I only hate...

Cheney, Chimpy, Gonzo, Miers, Kristol, Rummy, Feith...

Hmmm. I don't have enough time to finish my list.

[we can do it]

19. I Hate *

[jgraz]

20. Hate is a great motivator -- look what it's done for the Rethugs

Now we're gonna see what it does TO the Rethugs.

[Joe Fields]

21. I hate a lot of people, but then I'm far from perfect.

P.S. Most of them are republican politicians and their minions..

[lisa58]

22. You should be honest with your emotions...

...and follow them to their conclusions...if you don't, you'll deal with it again later.

[Redbear]

23. It's one of life's eternal questions

We strive to reach a higher level of humanity.

I think at higher levels we do develop the capacity to allow our love for our fellow man to overcome our natural reaction to their actions. But thats a goal, not a moral imperative.

[nevergiveup]

24. I hate this man

for what he did but I will not find joy in or celebrate his execution.

[BuyingThyme]

25. The real question is, what is your definition of hate?

And the answer is, in what context?

[MasonJar]

26. Hate is very self=destructive.

[Warpy]

27. Would you rather see him or be him?

That's where your answer is.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. I'm opposed to the death penalty, but

if anybody ever deserved it, it's that guy, and I certainly won't be shedding any tears for him.

I don't know whether or not it's OK to hate someone, but I unabashadly hate Bush and the entire RW cabal, and I hate the asshole who committed this crime. If that makes me a bad human being, so be it.

[AnnInLa]

29. Yes, of course

It is a human emotion.....as you know deep love and deep hate are only a hair apart. I don't trust people who go around loving everyone these days.

I still don't have a definite answer about killing. I could, for example, kill someone who I thought was going to kill/harm me or one of my family. If a person killed someone I loved, I would have no problem with him/her getting the death penalty. If one of my family kills someone else, then I would have big a problem with the death penalty.

IMHO, it depends what you do with hate. If you just stew over it, obsess about it, it ends up hurting you. If you channel that hate into constructive (?) energy, like political action, then I don't think it destroys you.

[mentalsolstice]

30. I'm conflicted

Bush and Cheney, I hate with the whitest of white hot flames! However, I can never wish the worst of circumstances on anyone. I'm against the death penalty...unless it's the express wishes of someone who knows that it's the only thing that will put them out of their misery. And then it needs to be done as humanely as possible. Yes, I said what I said, "unless it's the express wishes of someone who knows that it's the only thing that will put them out of their misery." Because I believe that the Jeffrey Dahmers, Ted Bundys, and John Coueys of the world live in a universe so different than any of us can understand...they are miserable in a way we normal, people can't identify with.

So, I'm against state-sanctioned death, however, if someone WANTS it, to put them out of misery from a painful physical illness, or a sociopathic condition that THEY realize, doesn't allow them to function in a civilized society...then so be it. However it has to be at their express wishes, and done as humanely as possible.