When Anger Turns to Hate
My parents taught me anger was a natural emotion in response to being treated poorly, but it was not all right to hate the person who caused you harm. There are times when it is difficult to follow that advice. Anger comes from annoyance, displeasure, or hostility ranging from mild to irritation to rage. It results from pent-up frustrations, feeling wronged, losing control of a situation, or witnessing unjustness. When it gets exaggerated to the point that it affects judgment, it can turn into hate, creating barriers to healing that lead to further anxiety, restlessness, obsessive thinking, and paranoia. When hostility is directed at you, it is a painful experience. When handled through dialogue, it can be constructive and lead to change.
Hatred arising during periods of crisis, when people feel vulnerable or threatened, creates a desire for control. Negative assumptions learned from friends, family, and the media easily fan the flames of discontent. Hatred-based religion and political ideology, both artificial phenomena, are handy ways to gain power. Their dehumanizing propaganda has psychological and societal impacts that affect both the sender and the receiver. We have only to look at the conflict between Israel and Gaza to see how anger, distrust, and hatred caused thousands to die.
Hatred is unhealthy, impacting the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine reports that it leaves lasting neural imprints similar to the pathways of addiction. It is almost as challenging to rid yourself of excessive anger and hate as it is to overcome a drug, alcohol, or food addiction.
The good thing is that the human brain is changeable and can learn to love rather than hate. A growing amount of evidence points to humans as having a sense of mortality at birth that distinguishes good from evil and right from wrong. With advances in neuroscience, scientists can see that electrical pathways in the brain are constantly being changed by new experiences that affect who we are and what we believe.
There are days when I feel surrounded by angry people. They make me wary and put me on alert. I don’t want to be like them. André Fenton, a neurobiologist at New York University, agrees that the human brain is a fundamentally changeable system, but unfortunately, the media understands this too. They are good at stirring anger, turning it into hate, and changing the brain. When this happens, reprogramming is not easy, for hatred releases neurotransmitters, producing bursts of energy hateful people become addicted to.
I saw a sign at a Jewish protest march that said, “Hatred isn’t born, It’s Taught.” The hatred of the Jewish people dates back to the Greco-Roman era. Since then, Jews have become a scapegoat, blamed for Jesus’s death, for kidnapping and murdering Christian children, for spreading the Bubonic Plague, for rigging the economy, controlling the media, and stirring religious discord. For some unknown reason, they are also blamed for an increase in police brutality, gay rights, climate change, and foreign policy decisions they don’t like.
Embedded hatred is difficult to combat. It starts in backyard barbecues, religious services, and schools where children are taught they are more entitled to life than others. It has plagued for decades between the Hutus and Tutsis, the Sunnis and Shiites, the Muslims and Hindus, Christians and Muslims, Communism and Democracy, Native and African Americans and White Nationalists. What a waste of human life and resources! How much suffering such conflicts cause!
Despite this, there is hope for change. Consider Vietnam, where, during the war, a diorama of a Vietnamese village was erected at the Chicago Museum of Science, encouraging children to plan and shoot at the village with guns. Nineteen-year-old military recruits were taught to hate the North Vietnamese and died because of it. After losing and Vietnam was united under Communist rule, the country blossomed, becoming an important trading partner of the United States. Nearly 212,000 American tourists visited Vietnam in 2023.
Along with many friends, I am frustrated. I’m upset when people ignore warnings about global warming, when grocery store personnel are rude, and when my tire hits a pothole. I’m angry that businesses show little loyalty to employees, that youths bury their noses in phone screens, that so many people are homeless, and that drivers are discourteous at four-way stop signs.
Yet, I don’t have the energy, time, or desire to stew in rage. Life is too precious to waste in anger. Instead, I’ve chosen to redirect it to things I can affect after learning how corporations take possession of resources like water, which should be a right. I wrote The Water Factor to call people to action. Many of my predictions are already coming true. Last week’s news reports reported on the plight of Mexico City residents without water, the theft of water trucks, and how thieves break into pipes to siphon off water for personal use. You and I can change humanity if we put our heads and hearts into it.
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Add The Water Factor to your summer reading list. Hold your breath with an eco-thriller that will keep you turning pages. You won’t be sorry. Purchase on AMAZON and Barnes and Noble. Look for it in audio format by the end of next week and in bookstores everywhere
References:
Why We Hate: The Biology of Hate Activity. Discovery Education. retrieved from https://www.teachingwithtestimony.com/themes/twt_ui/images/Why-We-Hate-Activity-Biology-Of-Hate.pdf
Lathram, B. 2015. We are Wired to Learn, Change, and Engage: The Brain with Dr. David Eagleman. Getting Smart.Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/09/23/we-are-wired-to-learn-change-and-engage-the-brain-with-dr-david-eagleman/
Website (2024)10 Tough Questions on Antisemitism Explained. AJC Global Voice. retrieved from https://www.ajc.org/news/10-tough-questions-on-antisemitism-explained
Linehan, M.PhD & Porges, S. PhD &McGonigal, K. PhD & O’Hanlon, B. LMFT(2014)How to Work with a Client Who is Hostile and Critical. NICABM.Retrieved from https://www.nicabm.com/program/fb-anger/?del=gad.1034.anger.allext2&network=g&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21029941112&ad_group_id
Website (2024) Why do People Hate? MedicineNet. Retrieved from https://www.medicinenet.com/why_do_people_hate/article.htm
