
Ask HN: Why the Hate? - User2000
I was wondering, and i dont really understand the logic or the purpose of it. Why there are still haters in our world, even if we&#x27;re spreading love, peace, kindness, ect...<p>I mean, i dont understand the psychologic side of these people.<p>Do you now where i can find some studies or articles which explain that phenomenom ? I found nothing on the net..
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sfgweilr4f
No cited references. Here's a stream of consciousness to provoke a troll or
some solumn person who knows better.

Sum it up in one word: Fear. Sense of threat. The unknown is scary. The not-
same is scary. Lack of familiarity. People are terrified. Of something.
Anything.

Other aspects and similar mental distortions:

Anonymity shows the real core because of the apparent lack of known self
versus the usually hidden one. Along with the ability to be anonymous is the
ability to explore the usually unknown.

Trolling is the perceived absence of impact and the simulation of importance
through thwarting others' natural progress. This is one source of their hate
_and_ their fun. They receive accomplishment through the roadblocks they
create for others because of the trolling interference. Any social validation
is still validation in their mind. In reality the ones who are trolled are
progressing regardless and the troll is the one who gets further left behind.

Probably one or more of these. The usual suspects of jealousy etc should not
be overlooked but I'm out of beer.

Bonus observation: The nervous people are scary. What are they afraid of? What
if they know something? Maybe I should be afraid of THEM? Now the nervous
person is a threat just by being "too" nervous or not nervous enough (he's too
"aloof" so he doesn't care). This is why some people get attacked by a group.
A similar example is the person not sure of themselves: they are a threat
because if they are unsure of themselves they are perceived to unsure of and
incapable of everything else. "They might do _anything_. We can't trust them.
Better attack them now and find out." This is the basis for at least three
different variants of bullying, including mobbing. Difference from the group
norm, group cohesiveness reinforcement etc etc.

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dyingkneepad
> we're spreading love, peace, kindness, etc

Do you realize a lot of people have to grow up or live in environments where
none of these are present? When all you see around you is injustice, it's
kinda hard to not want to make 'justice' with your bare hands.

Besides, creating an "us vs them" mentality in whatever subject you choose is
a great way to manipulate people, and that generates hate.

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eanthy
I guess you couldn't ask a more hippy question. The psychology behind it is
that not everybody is born in a fairy tale and plenty of people have good
reasons to really dislike certain aspects of life or people, simple as that.

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tomhoward
Judgement and criticism of others is a way of distracting one's self from your
own life struggles and personal failings.

It's very common, and a big business too; it's what drives much of the media.

But a caution: criticising others for being too critical/hateful can be
another version of the same tendency.

I used to do this a lot, and have worked hard to learn not to worry about
others and focus on just being/doing good myself.

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musicale
Hate is as natural as love for humans (perhaps more so) and is adaptive.
Consider:

1\. In-group bias, which shows up in babies

2\. Pecking orders/social status hierarchies, which arise pretty much
everywhere from birds to humans; they create a somewhat stable social
structure but encourage animosity between those who peck and those who are
pecked

3\. Communities defining themselves by excluding others (see 1)

4\. Scarce resources leading to fights for survival; people who threaten your
very survival are easier to hate

5\. It's hard to fight people you empathize with, so demonizing/dehumanizing
them is necessary if you want to win/survive

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mean_gene_1976
What planet are you from? Are you high? This is a joke? I tell you this. Some
things put hate in your heart. And you go forward 10 years, 5 deployments,
divorced, kids are no where near you. And your alone. I am the hater. I hate
what I have become. I used to be so different. And I forced myself to enlist.
Then saw my country “win hearts and minds” and come back and listen to the mob
say there shit. I hate because I am not you.

~~~
User2000
Calm down man, i'm just very interested by this subject because i'm doing a
lots of music where im trying to spread some love because when i was in
college i was used to be bullied, so im trying to help kids who are in the
similar situation. But even when im trying to spread that kind of messages,
there are haters so YEAH im looking for some studies or elements which explain
the psychologic side of these people, im not high or crazy, i just want to
learn more about the human nature.

~~~
mean_gene_1976
I think you should take a look at the Dalai Lama. Seriosuly not trolling. I
used to read alot of his books. But, Standford does studieson it.
[http://ccare.stanford.edu/video/his-holiness-the-dalai-
lama/](http://ccare.stanford.edu/video/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama/)

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shervinafshar
I think there are few important keywords that could facilitate OP's research
on this:

\- moral relativism and ethical subjectivism:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism)
\- In-group vs. out-group

~~~
User2000
Thank you for this

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downerending
In my experience, there is no "we" and "them". People can spend years
apparently spreading love, peace, kindness, etc., and then for whatever reason
become generally vicious and cruel.

Someone mentioned fear--I think that's part of the reason.

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kleer001
Because the world, for the most part, is (and always has been) a dangerous
place and hate has proven to be a very useful (highly conserved through
evolutionary time) adaptation to help keep small and delicate bands of our
ancestors safe for one more day.

You can see this bias towards negativity easily in the structure of basic
emotions. There is one positive affect (happiness) and waaaaay more negative
affects (fear, anger, disgust, sadness) and only one neutral (surprise). And
those negative emotions are all very distinct.

If you want more detail I can recommend over 120 hours of learning in the
following (which I've watched and digested). They'll walk you through the
details from the bottom to the top.

-

Watch Robert Sapolsky's lectures:

[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7E21BF91F3F9683](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7E21BF91F3F9683)

Watch Jordan Peterson's Personality lectures:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYYJlNbV1OM&list=PL22J3VaeAB...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYYJlNbV1OM&list=PL22J3VaeABQApSdW8X71Ihe34eKN6XhCi)

and his Maps of Meaning Lectures:

(or read the book or listen to the audio book)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Xc2_FtpHI&list=PL22J3VaeAB...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Xc2_FtpHI&list=PL22J3VaeABQAT-0aSPq-
OKOpQlHyR4k5h)

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babygoat
Jordan Peterson suuuuucks.

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dang
Ok, but would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN? You've
done it a lot, and we're trying for better than that here.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

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quickthrower2
Honest question. What is a “hater”?

~~~
User2000
If i had to define whats a hater is i would say that its a person who are very
rude and disrespectfull towards what you are trying to defend, an idea, an
ideology, etc... But he will not even try to understand what you are saying,
he just hate you because, for example, your personnality will bring a lots of
people to you around the world, so he can be jealous of that, and hate you but
for no reasons. Its my definition of a hater.

