Saturday, May 11, 2024

What is it like to be a Target of Hate? 5 Things to Learn!

There are five things that one can learn from being a target of hate. This is a hypothetical example for learning purposes only. Because we live in a society and we have responsibilities to improve that society during our short lifetimes these types of discussions are necessarily but rarely appreciated. People have long made up their minds on what to believe and only a percentage of them can be persuaded to adjust their patterns of thinking. Most are beholden to their self-perceptions gained from socializing and adapting the values from "influencers" around them so expecting them to free themselves from these socially embedded perspectives is difficult if not impossible. 

The hypothetical example (Take with grain of salt): Someone wanted something and made up a number of rumors, engaged in highly manipulative behaviors and spread those to as many people as they could causing a long chain of aggressive hate based behaviors. The clan was all to willing to hear, add, spread and act on them. They were also associated with a number of officials who were able to be easily manipulated to misuse their authority to help "the clan" achieve inappropriate objectives. Anyone who disagreed with mistreatment was quickly retaliated against. While they don't recognize it, most of their behaviors were based on deep seated bigotries and longer patterns of behaviors. The targets were told they were being targeted for their religion and the group used racially charged language much of their lives and felt the world should be more like them-entitled ethnocentrisms (Pick a religion Catholic, Muslim, Jew or Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) 

1.) Groups Struggle to Change: Groups will self-confirm their bias and when they do this it is unlikely they will change until the group leaders are held to a level of account. Microaggressions, rumor spreading, blocking of opportunities, etc. will continue to go forward because of the background chatter these groups support and spread. While these may be illegal they are nevertheless common and unlikely to be corrected. They can do no wrong!

2.) Bigotries are Deep: Bigotries are deep and people don't recognize them but will act on those beliefs. It really doesn't matter the race or religion as people like to self-confirm their value by devaluing others. People's identities are tied to things like race and religion so without internal change we should expect no change from the environment. They may not understand the value of diverse genetic processes for strengthening of the species or even the essential messages of their religion but because they are herd creatures they do not have the awareness to know what they don't know. 

3.) Systems Struggle to Correct: There is some struggle by systems to correct so at times perpetrators who knew they were being destructive and manipulative are likely to get away with such behaviors. Something we should work on but it is again tied to peoples perceptions so expect slow moving change there. While systems don't inherently seek to allow this happen there are limitations and co-supporters that derail the process of justice (not always.)

4.) There is No Glory in Doing the Right Thing but Their is a Silver Lining: Doing the right thing when people have a stake in protecting the wrong thing isn't going to win you a lot of friends; especially in a hate group. However, those who know you and respect your willingness to stand for a bigger purpose will begin to see the dishonesty and in their own way show a level of support; even if they are afraid of social backlash (i.e. the dangers of group think have sunk whole societies). 

5.)The World is a Big System: We as human species intuitively know the difference between right and wrong and on a deep species level continue to improve our environments. Things change slow but they do change. Things fluctuate between good and bad but in general we get better as a society. Change is a process and we are just a small drop in that process. There are systems at play that encourage us to adapt and change to our environment and no single person can stop it as it is generational by nature. 

I can give you no advice to challenge hate but I can say how you approach the world and what you believe the world should look like will come to define you. Are you the type who stands for core values or are you the type that follows the herd? There is no right or wrong but "just is". How we deal with this as a society also comes to define us as well and we can see that when we read history; the good, the bad, the better.

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