Ask Urban Scout #7: Hate for Hating Haters
Urban Scout -Why do you hate so much? What makes it worthwhile? What would you say to someone who says it is a waste of time, energy, and headspace to hate? Do you see hate as a passionate appraisal, a negating force, or what exactly? Could you take a bit of time to flesh out the healthy aspects of hating and the unhealthy aspects of hating – as you see them? Do you see hate as white and black, hate completely or not at all? I ask not only because I am ever so curious but also in case some easily influenced kid makes an enemy out of someone because the other supports something you hate and unnecessary damage ensues.- Sincerely Seeking a Straight Debate to Illuminate Hate which might Sate the Irate who Relate
Dear “Sincerely,”
Why do I hate so much? A see a lot of things out there that deserve hating. Just as I obviously see things that deserve loving, i.e. the entirety of the natural world. The loving goes without saying for those with eyes to see it. For no one can hate something unless it somehow hurts the things they love. And there you have it. So much of what I hate, I hate because it destroys world and people and other-than-humans that I love. Most people have heard the cliche “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” but for me it feels more like, “If you don’t have hatred for civilization and the mechanisms that continue its destruction, than you don’t really love the world and must feel afraid of real human emotions, because maybe if you stopped ’emptying yourself,’ whether through drugs or ‘meditation,’ you’d actually feel the urgency of just how fucked up our situation looks.”
What makes hating worth while? …What makes love worth while? What makes breathing worthwhile? Fuck, what makes living worth while? Do you have any emotions at all? Hating what deserves hate makes me feel alive because hate feels like a human emotion. I don’t hold onto my hate, I make it known and seek atonement for the things that caused my hate by changing them. When I have atonement, I don’t hold onto the hate but let it go. For example, I will always hate the things that did not give me atonement, and that shapes the decisions I make in the rest of my life. Emotions can teach us things if we actually let ourselves feel them, and feel okay about it.
What would you say to someone who says it is a waste of time, energy, and headspace to hate? I would say that having a conversation with anyone who would ask me that would feel like a waste of time. Feeling emotions look like a waste of time to this person? Feeling strongly feels like a waste of energy? I think someone like that doesn’t actually know anything about living as a human, but has received civilized programming of believing that any emotion aside from “love” (whatever that means), we should never feel or only feel when those in power tell us we can.
This anti-hate/anger meme obviously works to create a resistance free slave class. Anger and hate motivate people to make changes. Those in power know this and manipulate people all the time; racism towards Iraqi’s in order to raid Iraq, racism towards mexicans to allow immigration camps, etc. My hatred does not come from some bullshit artificial creation made by those in power. It comes from the destruction of the physical world in which we live.
Do you see hate as a passionate appraisal, a negating force, or what exactly? I don’t see hate, I feel it. If you don’t understand why you feel hate towards something, I can’t help you. I hate the things that destroy life, and that emotion motivates me to create more life. It motivates me to “call out” the bullshit I see happening around me, to bring attention to it. My first strong feeling came with this question; why the fuck do people keep destroying this planet? Of course this question led me to Quinn and Jensen, etc. You could say my hate of civilization led to finding answers. You can’t really say that my love of the natural world led me to find answers, but you can say that my love of the natural world led me to hate civilization which has destroyed it.
Could you take a bit of time to flesh out the healthy aspects of hating and the unhealthy aspects of hating – as you see them? Emotions (whether you label them “good” or “bad”) can either motivate you to create life by challenging cultural systems and beliefs that you feel work destructively, or they can motivate you to continue to destroy life; such as using racism to inspire oil wars. I don’t see any emotion as “good” or “bad” I feel that emotion and use it to create more life.
…in case some easily influenced kid makes an enemy out of someone because the other supports something you hate and unnecessary damage ensues. If someone feels hatred towards civilization, our way of life that will kill the planet in our lifetimes, I did not give them that hatred, the culture did by fucking everything up. I don’t take responsibility for what civilization has done to our once beautiful world, our once beautiful psyches. If that hate fuels them to challenge the way civilization operates and challenge those who support this destructive way of life, I support them. Civilization will kill the planet in our lifetimes.
I don’t know what you mean by saying, “unnecessary damages.” If you mean to ask, “what if some insane fan reads something you wrote and completely misinterprets it and than does something completely fucking retarded?” Well, obviously stupid people take things out of context and do stupid things all the time. That has nothing to do with me at all, but the insane person who has trouble thinking. I can’t stop people from hearing the devil tell them to kill people when they play my Art of Rewilding video backwards. You know?
I think a difference exists between grief and hate. Deep seeded hate can become un-metabolized grief. As long as that hate finds its way out, such as through tears. I don’t walk around hating civilization all the time, though I do feel hate for it often. When it gets too strong the grief can feel paralyzing and then I cry and I can move again. The hate doesn’t go away, but the grief comes and goes.
A lot of how I feel about this came from one of my largest influences, Martin Prechtel. Specifically his audio CD titled, “Grief and Praise.” I highly recommend it.
Thanks for these questions. I really enjoy hating things (obviously!). I do feel like I should explore it more.
Scout
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Gotta love that “easily influenced”, which only kicks in when you’re listening to something They don’t want you to hear. A bit like “brainwashing”, “radicalization”, and other assorted newspeak.
Haha. Totally.
you do get ’em don’t you
I believe many shun hate because the common hate has zero origins in love and acts solely as a divisive force, an all too prevasive manifestation of insecurities and confusions which keeps us distanced and cuts the bonds of community. Rarely does anyone want to experience that push from the receiving end, so instead of discerning different the sources and the possible gifts of anger the sheepish write hate off all together as another unpleasant and unwanted human device, much like violence.
Some hate because they don’t want to see, some hate because they do.
Sometimes approaching something contemptable with undiluted openess and understanding will change it – a la Luke and his Dark Father.
Hate on. (:
To me, it all comes down to the “societal” view that we should ignore our emotions, which are completely natural and instinctive, and abide by laws and regulations and “follow the rules.” Hate, love, anger, hurt, sadness, all are natural instinctive emotions that are suppressed too much in this day. Because they are suppressed, they can turn dangerous when the emotions are finally released. It all comes back to a “societal” view that we, as civilized humans, should ignore our feelings, especially males of this society. I believe that this person who wrote you this letter is confusing hate with violence, hate being an emotion, violence being an action. One does not have to be violent just because he hates, it all depends on how the individual reacts upon his emotions, and how freely he expresses them. Too often in this society, that results in violence, due to repression, and because one sees no other outlet, and because this society encourages aggressive behavior.
As is so often the case, old school Sesame Street has the answer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz0DqAUWUpI
(This came from a record my partner had when he was a kid. He was singing it to me just the other day, and I was stoked to find it online.)
But it made me think about some cultural differences between my childhood and current child-raising beliefs. I can’t even imagine them playing this song on Sesame Street today, because it doesn’t tell kids that they should get over being angry, or how to take a “time out” and count to ten. It’s just an honest look at emotions, and helps kids learn how to name their experiences.
So I did a little looking into the topic, and it turns out that old Sesame Street episodes have just been re-issued on a new DVD with the warning that they are appropriate for adults only. This is the real actual original show, not the “adult” Sesame Street you might be picturing if you are a disgusting pervert. Read more about that here if you want http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/20/sesame-street-dvd-re.html