The Mind of a Hater

"In Eric Hoffer's account of a mass movement's need for unifying elements, he classified hatred as one of those elements. He quoted Hitler as saying that if there were no such thing as a Jew, 'We should then have to invent him. It is essential to have a tangible enemy, not merely an abstract one.' Hoffer added:

F.A. Voigt tells of a Japanese mission that
arrived in Berlin in 1932 to study the National Socialist movement.
Voigt asked a member of the mission what he thought of the movement. He replied:
'It is magnificent. I wish we could have something like it in Japan, only we
can't, because we haven't got any Jews.' "

This was taken from an essay titled "Are Jews Generic?", by Thomas Sowell. Dr. Sowell was referencing Eric Hoffer's The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. In Thomas Sowell's essay "Are Jews Generic?", he talks about a universal hatred for groups of people whom he calls "middleman minorities", due to the commonality of their economic roles in societies around the world, despite different races, colors, religions, and national origins. According to the research done by Thomas Sowell, it is the magnitude of violence and the duration of such hate against these middleman minorities that is so striking when compared to other hated groups.

The quote above gives insight into our depravity as human beings ~ not merely those men from long ago dressed in swastika-clad uniforms in a faraway land. The reality is, to some extent or another, we have all felt hatred for another person. And, whether we realize it or not, most of us find a way to justify our hate. We may even find ourselves in the company of others who feel similarly to "legitimize" our feelings of hate, in turn, strengthening it. As seen in the words of the Japanese man above, people don't even need to have a clear enemy to want a scapegoat.

So what drives us to hate?

There are many reasons why some groups of people hate, dehumanize, or devalue other groups of people. In my observation, power and money seem to be common denominators that drive people (and mass movements) to treat others of different races, religions, cultures, national origins, sexual preferences, economic roles or classes, ages, and abilities as insignificant or unwanted. Though we often think of discrimination as being a result of an elitist view of another's appearance, actions, and speech, I think that is merely a symptom, though in no way insignificant. Possibly it is easier for one to justify hating groups because of the "hated's" practices or beliefs rather than to hate them due to the "hater's" own issues of dominance and envy ~ to make the "hated" the faulty party, rather than the "haters". This also makes it easier to convince those with seemingly good consciences to join the hate bandwagon.

An imagined utopia can convince people to "play God" ~ picking and choosing by whom the perfect world would be inhabited. But what we have to understand is that God has created us ALL. He did not create certain people and say, "Oops, I should have thought that one through" or "I had no idea they were going to do THAT!" God knows what He is doing, even if it doesn't make sense to us. We may look around and see nothing but chaos, but God sees His plan unfolding. Even though God is bigger than evil and weeps at our injustices, His plan is not free from pain and suffering. It is what we do with that pain and suffering that is important. Pain and suffering should ultimately be used to glorify God, but often we choose to use it to put a wedge between ourselves, God, and others. Since God lovingly allows us to make our own decisions, He cheers us on to do what is good for us.

God cares about us. How can we show that we care about what God cares about? As Christians, we represent Christ. What can we show others about God by the way we treat people?


Bye!

~ Lester