Overcoming hate

From Next Step: Overcoming Hate by Abeer Abdalla

Mirroring a global phenomenon that many have come to expect from other nations' borders, hate and extremism in America have an historical precedence with a modern agenda touting a simple refrain - intolerance is here to stay.

Since 2007, even in the racially diverse community of Los Angeles County crimes increased by 28 percent. "Hate crimes," reports the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, "are criminal acts or attempted criminal acts against an individual or group of individuals because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability."

Belying historic and geographical precedence, the Commission's report attributes the rise in hate crimes to a growing white supremacist movement in Southern California.

Chris Keeling, a member of the FBI Hate Crimes Task Force in Santa Clarita asserts in an interview with NPR that Obama's impact on the hate movement is alive and well. "There is more on the Internet. There are more flyers [and more] leafleting going out, because now they have a target," he said. "Take Obama out of the situation, you're still going to have leafleting."

Certainly inspiring both saint and sinner, the Internet has also impacted domestic and international terrorism. "The Internet is a vessel that goes on its own and it provides a library of hate and a social networking opportunity - so the need to join an organized group doesn't exist as it once did," said Brian Levin, associate professor of criminal justice and Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

Levin, who specializes in the analysis of hate crime, terrorism and legal issues, nonetheless says there had been a decline in white supremacist recruitment since 2000 but that its current expression is in response to changing political tides.

"I think the Klan was seen as an anachronism," he said. "They played their card during the 1990s and tried to hook into the anti-government movement, but a lot of the stuff that they had been selling - a bad economy, which they blamed on blacks and immigrants, really didn't carry resonance. Crime had gone down so they couldn't sell the black crime story they previously sold."


From How do you define hate? by Alia Hoyt

Overcoming Hate

Dr. Glaser notes that hatred was probably a good thing back in the days of primitive people, when it provided the necessary motivation to attack or avoid potential enemies. But hatred can actually be physically toxic. A recent study published in the journal Annals of Behavior Medicine found that a "love-hate" relationship with a friend could actually cause a person's blood pressure to rise, at least in the short term. The study deduced that just being in the same room as a friend who tends to be critical, unreliable or unpredictable can send blood pressure up. Furthermore, many experts believe hatred causes a host of other physical problems, including reduced immunity to illness, migraine headaches and increased vulnerability to diseases like diabetes and cancer.

While it's doubtful that anyone will ever be completely able to rid themselves of hateful thoughts and feelings, it is possible to minimize its presence in everyday life. One Buddhist quote, when translated to English, reads:

"…This eternal wisdom is to meet hatred with non-hatred. The method of trying to conquer hatred through hatred never succeeds in overcoming hatred. But, the method of overcoming hatred through non-hatred is eternally effective. That is why that method is described as eternal wisdom."