In Praise of Hatred

Posted on May 11, 2004 by sheila

A strong hatred is the best lamp to bear in our hands as we go over the dark places of life, cutting away the dead things men tell us to revere.

— Dame Rebecca West

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18 Responses to In Praise of Hatred

  1. Mr. Z says:
    May 11, 2004 at 5:25 pm

    Wow – is that ever well-put. Thanks for posting that.

  2. red says:
    May 11, 2004 at 5:33 pm

    So many of my favorite quotes are from her. I wonder, sometimes, if she ever said anything as prosaic and UN-quotable as “I’ve got an itch on my ass”. I doubt it.

  3. j Swift says:
    May 11, 2004 at 5:57 pm

    Hatred’s beacon in my left hand
    A Sword of righteous anger in my right
    I wade into the fray of good and evil
    Swinging over and over in a never ending fight

    Hold tightly,
    Hold tightly,
    I can not let it go.

    Covered in blood, consumed and sated
    Evil things dead, Revered things too.
    I take evil to my breast
    For I no longer know where it will end

    Hold tightly,
    Hold tightly,
    I can not let it go

    The fray has taken me
    I am no longer a soul apart
    but a feeder of the fray
    and feeding from the same

    Hold tightly,
    Hold tightly,
    I can not let it go

    Am I a hero?
    taking the evil with me
    a villian giving it purchase?
    evil my soul’s parasite

    Hold tightly,
    Hold tightly,
    I can not let it go

  4. CW says:
    May 11, 2004 at 7:47 pm

    Dame Rebecca is about my all-time favourite writer. I think I’ve told you that before. I also have often wondered if she was so eloquent in person as in prose. I bet she was.

    Thanks for the great quote.

  5. Dean Esmay says:
    May 13, 2004 at 8:12 am

    It’s nice, for once, to see someone suggest that hatred isn’t necessarily a wicked, unhealthy, bad emotion.

    The last time I said that on my blog I got dozens of people commenting and linking, most of them shocked that I would express such a thought. The overriding theme: “Hatred just makes you sick inside.”

    My own view is that everybody hates, just like everybody feels anger, grief, love, lust, jealousy, joy, and so on. The question is where and how you apply it. Can love be sick and disgusting? Watch what an overweaning mother can do, or think about love that turns into obsession (can you become obsessed over someone you don’t love? I doubt it). Look at joy: can you take joy in torturing an innocent? Some can.

    If you deny your capacity to hatred, it’s my view that all that happens is it comes out and expressses itself in ways you aren’t conscious of and that just make you weirder.

  6. Dean's World says:
    May 13, 2004 at 8:18 am

    Thoughts On Hate

    Ahhh, now this is refreshing….

  7. TC-LeatherPenguin says:
    May 13, 2004 at 9:31 am

    I gotta go along with Dean. If I don’t get absolutely enraged at something…anything…before nine AM then my whole day is shot.

  8. spd rdr says:
    May 13, 2004 at 10:27 am

    Hate is preferrable to indifference.

  9. Adam says:
    May 13, 2004 at 10:50 am

    What about Bush Haters? Oh wait, they’re irrational. So their hatred is baad.

  10. megapotamus says:
    May 13, 2004 at 11:07 am

    Adam, as a long time Clinton hater I would never automatically dismiss “hatred” in the way Dean describes. I would just question, “Why?” For myself, that answer begins with, “The man is a rapist.” and continues from there. I’m always interested to hear why someone hates George Bush. I haven’t heard a great reason yet.

  11. Dean Esmay says:
    May 13, 2004 at 11:46 am

    Adam: So you’re suggesting that all hatred, all love, all joy, all anger are good and rational? Because I certainly didn’t say that.

    If you’re going to just snark and be shallow, fine. But if you want to actually understand my point, try thinking first.

    Hatred that is pointed at the wrong people for the wrong reasons, hatred that’s based on falsehoods, distortions, exaggerations, partisanship–that’s unhealthy hatred. Just as joy taken in torturing children, love to the point of obsession and smothering, and so on, are all dangerous and destructive.

    Is that so hard to understand?

  12. Adam says:
    May 13, 2004 at 12:41 pm

    One thing I hate is intellectual dishonesty, Dean. And you’ve got it in spades. The obvious context of this thread is, it’s OK to hate the filthy Arabs who want to kill us. Fine. Go with that. (Kim du Toit: “The rags are fucked.”) The secondary context is, our hate is good and pure, and everyone else’s hate is bad. Talk about moral relativism. Pictures of Abu Ghraib are treasonous attempts to undermine our security, but everyone should see the Nick Berg video. Criticizing this President or his war is treason, but just wait until Kerry gets into the White House – we’re gonna tear him a new one.

    I’m sick of it. And don’t bother trying to tear me down any further – I’m not going to waste my time here, either.

  13. red says:
    May 13, 2004 at 12:44 pm

    Hey, you two. Take this fight off my blog, please.

  14. megapotamus says:
    May 13, 2004 at 12:52 pm

    Adam, a decent rebuttal there (a bit histerical)except you mischaracterize, I think, the Abu Ghraib/Berg connection. The big discussion on that controversy is on the media double standard. Images that threaten to inflame the Arab Street are broadcast on grounds of the public’s right to know. Those that threaten to inflame the American Street, even when they share an obvious news hook with the aforementioned, are embargoed. I share your disdain for the Kim duToit sentiments. I also don’t patronize that site but your charges of intellectual dishonesty don’t carry much weight on this topic as I’ve seen plenty of that demonstrated by Your Noble Self (not least of which is your flat elision of my response to you above). I wouldn’t say Dean is metaphysically innocent at all, who but the silent are? but on balance I would say with respect, you are the greater offender.

  15. red says:
    May 13, 2004 at 1:07 pm

    spd rdr:

    In terms of your comment in re: indifference, it made me think of yet another quote. This one from GB Shaw:

    The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That’s the essence of inhumanity.

  16. Heather says:
    May 13, 2004 at 1:27 pm

    One comment about Adam’s comment. I didn’t read anything in this post or Dean’s comment that suggested “The obvious context of this thread is, it’s OK to hate the filthy Arabs who want to kill us.” Or that “The secondary context is, our hate is good and pure, and everyone else’s hate is bad.”

    The point is that hatred is an emotion like all other emotions we feel. I also believe it is possible to hate an action or an idea without hating the person who perpetrated the action or idea.

    You will also note that I was speaking generally as I believe Dean and Red were.

  18. spd rdr says:
    May 13, 2004 at 4:37 pm

    Thanks, red. I knew that thought was just too good to come out of my own head, and of course Shaw said it a lot better.

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