Which do you think causes more people to "hate" others

I think being different in general

 

Remove Religion . . .Remove Race . . .. . you still will not remove HATE

Rocket River

 

I agree and disagree in a sense.

You can take away religion, but you can't take away ideology, which achieves the same thing.

You can take away race, but this doesn't stop people from creating categories within races. There is an enormous amount hatred within races.

So while I do think that eliminating ideology and human classification would eliminate hate, I think that for some reason humans are subconsciously hell bent on creating those things.

 

Primal instinct is to kill anyone different. It's human nature to hate. Anyone who tells you otherwise is naive. We're all ****ing programmed to kill each other, it's woven in our genes after millenniums of being in tribes. Intelligent design my ass. Sadistic design is more like it. Basically, it's basic instinct to want to **** over anyone who isn't offspring or a mate. Not everyone gives in, but I find most people do. I've lost faith in humanity and have come to terms that during my lifetime we're all gonna kill each other, and there ain't no one, no Jesus, no Zoroaster or whatever that will save us.

 

I think that more often than not, the people commiting the violence would have trouble seperating race, culture, and religion.

 

There should be a third option: "Globalization".

People used to not hate others because we don't know others. We lived on farms and in villages, where everyone knows everyone. How do you hate your next door neighbor whom you see everyday?

Now, we can talk to people from the other side of the world and our lives even depend on theirs. That's what causes hate.

 

Fear/Ignorance breeds hatred.

 

This is a succinct way of explaining it.

 

what if the fear is rational?

 

administering resources

 

Rational fear based on flawed and false information isn't any better than irrational fear.

I'd say it's worse. Just look at the awesome Red Scare periods we've had, when we got idiots like Senator McCarthy running everything. Once again showing that one day, Republicans will doom this country forever.

 

Competition breeds hate.

Think about it, everything is a competition.

Christianity vs. Islam
Whites vs. Non-whites
You vs. Society.
Blah blah blah.

Point is, there is always going to be hate, because removing competition is impossible. It is in our nature to compete, for pretty much anything and everything. Space race, arms wars, protests, rebellions, revolutions. All done in the name of personal betterment against others.

 

BINGO!!!!!

If you are talking about hate in general rather than individual confrontations, then fear IMO is the main attribute. Although i voted for race, but fear that someone else would be better/takeover/overtake....is the reason for hatred IMO. countries in general is making every move possible to stop others from developing all in while developing themselves. same goes for religion.

All hate between countries/groups are nothing more than power struggles IMO.

 

what about rational fear based on verifiable information and events?

 

Examples please.

 

Agreed, it's the culture you grow up in. It's something that is taught. Sometimes religion and race are just the excuse used to teach hate.

 

all conflicts are over economic grounds
race and religion are all just details that humans organize around
to fight to improve their economic situation
in order to assure their procreation

 

I don't think it's fear that makes Islamists do what they do. I'd even go as far as to say they do it due to an utter lack of fear.

I don't think fear was the reason people enslaved africans/blacks.

As basso said, fear can be rational and based on verifiable events, so it's not always irrational. Though it serves no purpose whatsoever, sometimes it's not in your control, same goes for irrational fear. This is why Muslims were also afraid to fly after 9/11, but I remember seeing a poll which seemed to indicate that non-Muslims expected Muslims to be less afraid.

I think, in the place where everyone is using the word "fear", it can/should be replaced by the word insecurity. It's definitely insecurity IMO. How do you secure your future, knowing that you have weaknesses? As the weaknesses grow, the insecurity grows. As more people punch holes into your ideology, your insecurity goes, and you start allowing irrationality to dominate your fear. Because if you were to be rational, it would lead you back to your weaknesses, something you don't want to see.

Generally speaking, I see insecurity as the inverse driver of rationality, and fear as the weapon of choice > given a mature, educated person ofcourse. It's been the weapon of choice since the begining of time for bigots everywhere >

- We're afraid there will be chaos.
- We're afraid they'll attack us.
- I have to kill them all because I'm afraid they're taking us over.
- We're afraid of their presence in Saudi.
- We're afraid there are WMD's.

Historically, people have used fear to mask their bigotry (which comes from insecurity). This is why I'm very skeptical when someone claims to be "afraid" in a political or religious discussion.

Things like "I'm afraid it will descend into chaos, therefore the dictator is a better choice." >> This is, IMO, just a mask for bigotry. It ignores reality, and usually it's a very convenient idea. There are very clear attributes usually attached to people who make such a claim > some form of extreme nationalism, above average income, distanced from the problem, shows polar swings in attitude depending on the identity of dead people. You can read about it, many books about it.

SHORT VERSION: Insecurity is the core issue, fear is the tool/weapon, be very skeptical of "fear" where ideology or classification is involved.