Hate can be a powerful tool when wielded by the wrong person to achieve inappropriate goals. Hate rears its ugly head when someone/group chooses another person/people to be a target for all of the distortions that they feel internally. Not a problem until they use a larger social group and a couple of closely associated officers to target a family they feel are less worthy then themselves. That is when the law must do its job, and when it doesn't, it means we have major problems looming into the future.
Over the past few years we have seen mass protests, a possible attempted coup, a major pandemic, the rise of China, international conflict and much more. Our world has fundamentally changed in a few short years. Our political structure started to show a splitting of seams through the use of hate, radicalism, and rage as tools to power. We have an opportunity to redirect, learn, and build better.
We have started to put the economy and its people back together through changing the tone and transparent accountability. That willingness to "do the right thing" may help us navigate our current challenges. Those challenges defined by the need to compete on a macro level through enhancement of our most important assets-Human Capital (Including education, creativity, diversity, capacity, etc. One must also have the institutions/policies to ensure that happens.)
Our togetherness isn't a given and is based on mutual belief in a higher ideal (i.e. our American principles and not the value of extremists, bigots, and criminal networks). For example, there was a political scientist from Russia that believed the U.S. would eventually disintegrate. You can read about Igor Panarin HERE and his projection the U.S. would crack like USSR.
Igor believed the U.S. would split based on mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation. He argued that we as a society would lower our values, become racially/religiously/ethnic aggressive and our institutions would no longer be trusted. His beliefs should perk your ears a little and we should put our own values and behaviors in context to the greater needs of the American society. What we do and how we do it is important to the collective whole!
You will also notice that part of his philosophy was information used as a weapon and from an intelligence standpoint I believe that has been used to hype up our differences, reach out to some of our radicals, and in some ways contributed to January 6th, 2021 riots (That is a theory with a sound basis. One would have to analyze social media and the contacts of these groups. Trace them back. Were there any people throwing in comments within their forums designed to incite anger? Any meetings with anonymous individuals? You get the point.... ). You can read something in the Brennon Center for Justice and Why We Should be Concerned-2018.
Basically what I'm saying is that hate is a tool and often creates corruption across our society as some people are treated differently when compared to others. One can engage in hate on a micro level such as our hometowns and some might use that on a national level. We should be mindful of the need to limit the divisive nature of hate and ensure that we are creating a shared sense of purpose with universal institutions that regain trust. We should all be on the same team.
This is why I advocate for universalism within our institutions (Justice and all other institutions). Some people shouldn't get a free pass simply because they fit some demographic but because they earned it based on the merits of their case. Hate corrupts institutions on a local level and national level (i.e. false/distorted beliefs impact the decision making within institutions. For example the local college that retracted an adjunct offer once they found out I was the "Muslim" guy their friends hated, a couple of officers closely associated with the group that encouraged illegal targeting, and the large social network that hasn't yet stopped their childish/bully antics.).
While creating second class citizens may make sense in the minds of those who lack certain pro-social values (i.e. the local group that feels they "rule the town" and can act in any way they want. Use of intimidation learned from childhood bullying of people in the community. Except, they are adults and when those adults influence/bully local officials they are no longer part of the social group and instead take a turn around a dark corner.), it isn't wise from a national standpoint. Our very future relies on our ability to create trust in our institutions and open up the economic and innovative capacity of our people.
National development happens through universalizing our values to ensure that every American has a shot at the good life and is a valued and protected member of our society. Merit should determine how far someone goes and not whether or not they are the "right" or "wrong" people. We need the best and brightest to rise beyond the most connected of society.
This is where some national soul searching could lead to new tools that can match other structural changes (i.e. infrastructure investments, focus on digital society, and returning advanced manufacturing). Once we realize the inherent rights of all Americans as codified within our Bill of Rights and Constitution we will begin to slowly see more of the fruits of our diverse labor sprouting up organically from the natural motivations built within a capitalist system (A system that rewards individual and collective effort beyond classism. racism, and religious bigotry).
(My projection is that we will beat our current challenges. We now see the dangers of such behaviors and many of our politicians have returned to a more rational thought process that allows them to make more objective decisions. Not all of our politicians but you can see the movement toward compromise and bi-partisanship.)
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