David - your voice and clarity of vision grows and are strength for us - Monique’s vision of acting locally from your own center of compassion and confidence resonates with me - we the people elected this vintage of haters, perhaps as you posted recently, as a backlash to decades of selfishness and elitism - the emerges of collective local enactment of compassion on the global scale appears to be our lasting salvation - this is the underpinning message I read in bill gate’s redirection of strategy in addressing climate change.
Thanks Matthew for reading and for your kind words. Totally agree that it starts with local action -- refusing to spread hate and finding ways to connect with others everyday. How that translates into social change is a mysterious feature of being human. As for Mr. Gates, I fear that he may have billionaire's disease, thinking he in insulated from the downsides that seem quite likely. Mitigating the symptoms is surely necessary, but not at the cost of ignoring the root causes.
I acknowledge the perspective and the possibility that Bill Gates' strategy change may well have been influenced. I am commenting on the face value of his message, which, to me, states the need to expand our strategic focus to address the remediation of the climate change impact on our global community, now that the agreed-upon target emission recommendations have been missed.
Reframing injury and accident as potential for doing great good has the mark of profound wisdom and is rightly promoted. Hate probably has ties to tribal survival; it and its cousin revenge are frighteningly powerful, but as Boghossian argues, are headed in the wrong direction.
As for moving the needle, there has to be a channel between hater and hated that undoes the lies necessary for hatred. A man I knew trained to operate the early mechanical computers for naval anti-aircraft talked in muted outrage about a propaganda program intended to make US sailors hate the Japanese. He felt it insulting, irrelevant, and injurious. He taught me a great deal.
Thanks Pete. Your wise words bring to mind an address of president Kennedy discussing the dead end of hating the Soviet Union: "So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
Start with power. People have been conditioned to think of power as dominance in a hierarchy. Therefore, bad. Therefore, they don't like to think about power at all. Which makes them unable to think clearly about their own power. So they feel powerless. Which makes him fearful.
However, power is a major component of hate, which is a combination of fear, aversion and power. And everyone has power. Imagine saying to yourself, "I have no power." Does that make any sense at all? No, you may not have organizational dominance, but that doesn't mean you can't operate in the world.
You take out the power, and there's no energy in hate. However, hate has a lot of energy. So, where does it come from? Power.
If we can make people more aware of their own power, then we can ask them to question whether or not they are hating out of defense of their power, or they want more power and are feeling obstructed, or whether they just really don't like object of hatred, or whether they're afraid of the object of hatred.
Thanks Jim. The connection between hatred and power is a complicated one, but it is clear that we are being manipulated by our capacity to hate and being convinced to hand power to the wrong people.
Using your own power, such as it is, to counteract that trend, is very good advice.
A woman who shot her ‘untrainable’ dog she ‘hated’ heads US Homeland Security … yes you have your work cut out.
Thank you for writing David!
Desmond Tutu summed it up well:
When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognising the humanity in others.
True. We hear it: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." But we don't quite believe it. It was a similar insight that ultimately turned Lincoln against slavery: "If I can enslave you, what's to keep the next guy from deciding he can enslave me?"
A radical view of equality is required to break the chain. We owe our existence to each other. Believe it. Act on it.
I agree completely. The challenge: how do we move the needle on this? How is hatred broken? You would think the singular acts of viciousness (blowing up boats and terrorizing children’s Halloween parties, playing chicken with SNAP payments) would galvanize opposition to this hatred!!!
I wish I knew. I do know that great leaders like Lincoln, MLK, and Mandela were able to appeal to our better angels and turn the corner after periods of great hatred and injustice. They also paid a very high price, prison and even death. That is a lot to ask. I myself am a coward. I'm not going to be standing in front of any columns of tanks. I can choose to exert kindness and understanding in my daily life, to the best of my ability. That's where it starts, IMO.
How do we move the needle on this?
Focusing on others is often the best path forward, starting right where you are:
Listen.
Be authentic.
Be kind.
Genuinely care.
Call out hate.
Focus on supporting your family, friends, and team and making an impact within your immediate environment.
What do you most appreciate from those around you?
These are great, Monique. Call it out and be a firewall against it's spread.
David - your voice and clarity of vision grows and are strength for us - Monique’s vision of acting locally from your own center of compassion and confidence resonates with me - we the people elected this vintage of haters, perhaps as you posted recently, as a backlash to decades of selfishness and elitism - the emerges of collective local enactment of compassion on the global scale appears to be our lasting salvation - this is the underpinning message I read in bill gate’s redirection of strategy in addressing climate change.
Thanks Matthew for reading and for your kind words. Totally agree that it starts with local action -- refusing to spread hate and finding ways to connect with others everyday. How that translates into social change is a mysterious feature of being human. As for Mr. Gates, I fear that he may have billionaire's disease, thinking he in insulated from the downsides that seem quite likely. Mitigating the symptoms is surely necessary, but not at the cost of ignoring the root causes.
I acknowledge the perspective and the possibility that Bill Gates' strategy change may well have been influenced. I am commenting on the face value of his message, which, to me, states the need to expand our strategic focus to address the remediation of the climate change impact on our global community, now that the agreed-upon target emission recommendations have been missed.
Thanks for clarifying....no argument here....
Reframing injury and accident as potential for doing great good has the mark of profound wisdom and is rightly promoted. Hate probably has ties to tribal survival; it and its cousin revenge are frighteningly powerful, but as Boghossian argues, are headed in the wrong direction.
As for moving the needle, there has to be a channel between hater and hated that undoes the lies necessary for hatred. A man I knew trained to operate the early mechanical computers for naval anti-aircraft talked in muted outrage about a propaganda program intended to make US sailors hate the Japanese. He felt it insulting, irrelevant, and injurious. He taught me a great deal.
Thanks Pete. Your wise words bring to mind an address of president Kennedy discussing the dead end of hating the Soviet Union: "So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
Worth reading the whole thing. https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610
Start with power. People have been conditioned to think of power as dominance in a hierarchy. Therefore, bad. Therefore, they don't like to think about power at all. Which makes them unable to think clearly about their own power. So they feel powerless. Which makes him fearful.
However, power is a major component of hate, which is a combination of fear, aversion and power. And everyone has power. Imagine saying to yourself, "I have no power." Does that make any sense at all? No, you may not have organizational dominance, but that doesn't mean you can't operate in the world.
You take out the power, and there's no energy in hate. However, hate has a lot of energy. So, where does it come from? Power.
If we can make people more aware of their own power, then we can ask them to question whether or not they are hating out of defense of their power, or they want more power and are feeling obstructed, or whether they just really don't like object of hatred, or whether they're afraid of the object of hatred.
Acknowledge the hate, and then talk about it.
Thanks Jim. The connection between hatred and power is a complicated one, but it is clear that we are being manipulated by our capacity to hate and being convinced to hand power to the wrong people.
Using your own power, such as it is, to counteract that trend, is very good advice.
A woman who shot her ‘untrainable’ dog she ‘hated’ heads US Homeland Security … yes you have your work cut out.
Thank you for writing David!
Desmond Tutu summed it up well:
When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognising the humanity in others.
True. We hear it: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." But we don't quite believe it. It was a similar insight that ultimately turned Lincoln against slavery: "If I can enslave you, what's to keep the next guy from deciding he can enslave me?"
A radical view of equality is required to break the chain. We owe our existence to each other. Believe it. Act on it.
I agree completely. The challenge: how do we move the needle on this? How is hatred broken? You would think the singular acts of viciousness (blowing up boats and terrorizing children’s Halloween parties, playing chicken with SNAP payments) would galvanize opposition to this hatred!!!
I wish I knew. I do know that great leaders like Lincoln, MLK, and Mandela were able to appeal to our better angels and turn the corner after periods of great hatred and injustice. They also paid a very high price, prison and even death. That is a lot to ask. I myself am a coward. I'm not going to be standing in front of any columns of tanks. I can choose to exert kindness and understanding in my daily life, to the best of my ability. That's where it starts, IMO.
Nice piece David - Thank you for writing and sharing.
Thanks Laurie....let's catch up. Big moves in local news....