Where do hate and intolerance come from?

Question

I notice older people tend to talk about how today's society is much worse than 'in their day'. And yes, I see gangs warring, I see West vs East, I see battle of the sexes, I see ignorance.

The thing is, where did today's society learn to be so hateful and ignorant, if not from those who taught us our 'values'?

Indeed, all this is more widespread today, but who did we learn all this from?

Everybody, I welcome your thoughts, regardless of what your religious beliefs are. This is in the right category, because , though it isn't so much ABOUT religion, I'm sure that religion can play a major part in both the subject matter and the answers you all provide.

((((Everyone))))

Answer 1

fear.

Whatever the channel maybe the cause is FEAR.

Answer 2

I beg to differ with so many of these answers. Hate and intolerance have been around for EONS. They are not something that just started getting "worse," but have been in existence at the same level of today's society and even worse at other times in our history. Look at the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition; the holocausts of the Native American Indians, the Jews and the Africans brought here simply for white mans' use and abuse. These were all based on hate and intolerance.

Hate and intolerance are part of the balance of this Universe and have been and will continue to be part of it. The secret is to RISE ABOVE it, to embrace the love and compassion needed to heal any destruction caused by the other. We cannot wipe it out, for if we did we would not have its counterpart. I, for one, could not live without love.

((((Retro))))

Answer 3

I think it comes from egoism. The only way that people can validate their own hatred is to make themselves feel somehow better than those that they hate. Religion can play a big role in this, because some people use religious texts to paint certain groups as "sinners" or "infidels...

The Radical Religious Right movement started alot of the hatred when it mixed religion, which is meant for self-betterment, with politics, which is all about proving how your side is better than the other. This resulted in the passion and fervor of religion being used to power a political machine, and the effects were devastating...

Answer 4

You answered part of your own question when you said ignorance. Why study something and learn about it when it's far easier to make suppositions based on nothing. The other part is fear. People in general fear things that they don't know or understand. The only way we will ever overcome this is to educate people on the unknown and teach tolerance as well. I am a Muslim, yet I tolerate the views and beliefs of others, even those I don't agree with. Why? Because, it is their right to choose as they see proper for themselves. They have free will.

Answer 5

Retro, Hate and intolerance has been with humanity since humans came down out of the trees and discovered that there were other humans, walking around. I think it stems from not KNOWING who the other folks are, what they're like, how they act, what they believe, or why they do what it is that they did. That lack of knowledge brought about FEAR of the others. From fear we easily slide into hatred. That is pretty much how things came to be the way they are now. Not much has really changed, except NOW we're not tossing the stangers onto bonfires or ripping their heads off.

Raji the Green Witch

Answer 6

Intolerant people make more intolerant people. Look at the atheists. Back in the old days, atheists simply didn't believe in God. And that was fine. Now look. The modern atheists are just as bad as the fundamentalist bible thumpers, shoving their beliefs down every ones throats and throwing hissy fits every chance they get.

On race, it is the government. They steal money from working people and give it to lazy and irresponsible people. They pass laws making discrimination welcome and legal as long as it is favoring a so called minority.

Same with sex discrimination. It's ok to discriminate against a male but not a female. The government is breeding intolerance with these laws.

And I am not a racist. I hate everybody equally.

Answer 7

We have become self indulged society. Not like ancient times were any better. On that time people only knew to wage wars to end others' belief system. As we grew more human, we got good at pretending to like what others are saying. Inside we still have this ego ," we are the best."
Hate and intolerance come from human nature. When we can't justify other beliefs and believe that they might become problem for us, we develop these feeling.

Answer 8

In my opinion, people will always tell you, after their twenties at least that things were better when they were younger. that's the way life goes. patterns of interpretation of culture and, particularly popular culture change completely every 10 years. of course this is a gradual process, so the world you grew up in is not the same your children are growing up now. Yes, it is true, the world may have not been so paranoid about everything, there may have not been a war/wars but there were bad things too. People tend to idealise their childhood and teenage years eve if they were crappy just because they had the liberty the haven´t got now or for some other reason and by the time they are old the world is so strange for them that all they do is complain because their way to interpret reality and to function in society has completely fallen in disuse and nobody understands them. Try this on music and you´ll see.
Humans have always fought for some thing or another, territory, women, resources, riches. It´s part of our essence as animals but as evolved being we should get of such a primitive side. What happens is that institutions and organisations drive us apart because they know that if we´re all together they loose their power. Look at football teams. they drive countries apart on account of a stupid sport, which may be fun and good for your health or whatever you may want to say but they have been the cause for killing people, KILLING PEOPLE, for Heaven´s sake. Just imagine what religion, something definitely stronger, is able to do. If they keep us separated they can sell different products corresponding to one side or another, if there were only one religion there would only be one leader. It´s monopoly and all the big fish are fighting for us. It´s the bloody market that´s behind all this. Now, if you want to go deeper I believe there is a dark hand, entities older than this insignificant world, that have been here since we were put on this planet. They have been delaying our evolution, they have been supporting people like Bush who cause war and strife. Think about it. people are terrified, they are made to be scared of everything by telling them the enemy is in their houses, in their cars, in their bathrooms, wherever; so they have to be very afraid. People are driven to a constant state of paranoia and the let their leaders whatever the hell they please. scared people don´t think, don´t question, don´t reason, the don´t evolve but rather, they INvolve. haven´t you noticed that when there´s relative peace and harmony society advances like crazy? Ludicrous dogma and precepts are questioned and people start thinking, they start questioning the power of their leaders. Is it just a coincidence that in times of peace the power of representatives is reduced and governments more democratised and in times of warfare they are given almost the power of gods? then it takes time for people to remove that power form them. that has been happening for centuries but in my opinion, people in general are getting rather sick of it all and soon everything will blow up. I'm not saying there's going to be a bloody revolution and so, there may be, I don't know. But I've got the feeling that this is going to end pretty soon.
To me, if you want a straight answer, the one behind this are the Market and religious institutions. And behind them ancient dark beings that have been twisting everything to prevent people form evolving.
As to your question of who have we learnt our values from yes, I must agree that it is our parents who have had a great influence on us teaching us what we know but I must add too that the media has a great influence on us and especially on the younger generations, who learn from TV that violence and hatred are cool and that it´s all just a big game, if you´re not in it, you´re a loser. That´s how these poor children are sent to war, they even play music and wear this special helmets that make it all seem like a video game. The media desensitivises us, from horror films to the news. They make it all seem unreal, out there, away from us.
Call me crazy, but that´s what I think.

Answer 9

I am a christian, and I try and be loving to all people I meet. I think that is the true spirit of christianity. I think SOME religious people go about telling people they are doing wrong (sinning) in the worst ways. Telling someone that "God hates them" or they are "going to hell" is not being loving. In the bible we learn that God loved us even though we sinned, even though we are selfish, even though we are capable of doing horrible things...each of us has done wrong. We are called to express that love. I think intolerance and hate come from fear and ignorance. I think it is very difficult to abandon our fallen nature and reform to the true spirit of christianity which is essentially to love and change in yourself all that is not "up to par" Many people fall short of that. Many people take the easy road which is labeling, hate, spite, fear and anger. If any of us want this to change, we need to change ourselves first.

Answer 10

In my opinion, it is a learned behavior, for instance people learned to be racist bc their families were racist, gangs learned to hate the other gangs bc either their families or close friends/relatives were in gangs, and sometimes it's just the person, but in my opinion, most of it comes from heritage.....

Answer 11

Society learns its values from Hollywood, fanaticism, 'celebrities', CNN and newspapers. The lessons are not good ones.

The occasional truly good person is so rare they might as well be another species, yet our monstrous egos let us believe that we too have such goodness.

CD