How do you reconcile feelings of real hate?

[AmericaIsGreat]

I mean real hate. Like, wish-a-person-to-pass-on-from-natural-causes-as-soon-as-possible hate.

I hate Ken Ham to that degree, for example. Check him out (be careful; material may cause drop in IQ).

He's been around for a while, I've followed him for a while and I really hate him. I hate him with that real hate I described above.

At first I think, "That's wrong. What is gained by him dying except a strengthening of his faith and less time for him to potentially have an enlightenment about how twisted his views are?"

But then I think, if Ken Ham doesn't exist, he can't propagate intolerance and glorify willful ignorance to impressionable kids. I don't give a shit if his faith becomes even stronger before he dies; that has no impact on anything; I don't feel as if I've somehow "lost" because he went out believing he is right. So, I continue to hate him in that real, deep and profound way.

How do I reconcile this with the fact that hate is a terrible attribute?

Is this a stupid question?

[LeftyFingerPop]

1. Marijuana.

[elleng]

3. THANKS for that! Was looking for an answer!

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. You're welcome. It is the only thing that works.

[AmericaIsGreat]

10. Coincidentally

I was partaking when I opened this thread to read the responses. B-)

[MrMickeysMom]

12. OF COURSE!

... wait... uh, never mind.

[rug]

2. I hate canned ham.

:puke:

[LeftyFingerPop]

5. OK...here is a serious answer...

You cannot control what Ken Ham does. But, you can control your reaction to what he does.

Does he impact you in a personal way?

Why bother ruining your own psychic health over what someone else does, especially if you do not know him personally?

You have to realize that the hate is hurting you, not him.

Do you want to hurt yourself? Probably not. So turn off the hate.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. I'm not sure it needs to be 'reconciled' - it depends on how it affects you.

Hatred can be turned to rage, which can be turned into righteous action. Rage is a wonderful thing. It got Rosa Parks to sit where she wanted, it got Ghandi to say "no", and gave us the Revolutionary War.

But if it's a hatred that has one stunted, that blocks one from enjoying the fullness of life, that has one sitting and stewing and basking in the hate - then it's a problem. Then the person needs to do a reality check and go "Wow, why am I letting this person/issue have so much control over my life that I can't even live?"

We often are way too quick to label hate as a "bad" emotion. Like all emotions, it is neither bad nor good. It just is. What is at issue is how we deal with it.

Some of my drive to succeed in life, and to help teenagers find self-value in their lives, stems from my hatred of a majority of the people and their hurtful, hateful, asshole behavior in my class in high school. I hate (here it's a good thing!) seeing others treated the way that I was.

[Boxerfan]

7. Thats what works for me...But jeeebus some types really make it hard not to loathe

And frankly its hard to believe in any diety that would allow such scum to walk with impunity.

[Xipe Totec]

8. There are those I hate so much, I wish they will live forever

I don't wish them health, wealth, or happiness.

I just wish them a very long life.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

I googled Ken Ham. He sounds like a complete idiot

but not worth wasting a lot of energy on. If you're going to work up a nice righteous hate, I'd say go for Dick Cheney, who is pure evil and has actually killed people.

[Chan790]

9. Reconcile them with what?

I just hate, I don't have to feel bad about it.

I've thought about it for a while, it seems to me that might be where we've gotten off track as Democrats...not allowing ourselves to feel passionately enough that we allow ourselves to hate evil deeds and evil people. There is a time for reason, empathy and thought, but there is also a time to put those things on a shelf, break out the commitment to objective truths, our armor and march off to war, so to speak.

[Redstone]

11. You don't.

Redstone

[lunatica]

13. It helps when you realize your hatred is hurting you more than it's hurting him

You can replace that hatred with respect for yourself. Stop hurting yourself, because you're allowing hatred to dominate your thought and your life. Wouldn't you prefer to define your life with love and good deeds and graciousness? Why waste it on hate?

You can't change him. But you can sure change yourself. As a matter of fact you are the only thing you can change in this world.