What drives hate?

If only I knew?

Sadly, I’m no psychologist and I can’t really answer this question…

Some say it is fear of the unknown…

Some say it is a defective mind i.e. a mental malfunction..

Whatever it is, it has been there since the very first human being walked the face of the earth I suppose.
It was there in biblical times (for those who believe in religion) and I think it started with jealousy or something along those lines…

Whether it is today, 10 years ago, 100 years ago or 1000 years ago, whatever drives an individual to seek to protect his/her own, while willingly extinguishing others, is just to difficult to understand. We saw various formats last summer in the UK; be it the teenager that was able to take a knife to three young girls and kill them, to the inexcusable riots that followed, where several police officers and ambulance staff were violently attacked and injured, with hotels housing migrants being set on fire (just think about it: what if the fire hit a gas supply to the hotel? It could have been catastrophic!) and the hateful rhetoric that has now become acceptable language, even at the upper echelons of our politics.

We all thought heinous acts such as buying & selling of human beings, holocaust, world wars, genocide etc., were situations that could only have occurred years and years ago, when things were different. But here we are, in 2024, in the 21st century, and we are witness to some really horrific events. And some are now casually discussing the likelihood of a World War III, as if two of those wasn’t enough!!!!

We never have, still don’t and perhaps never will, sat down for a minute, to consider the fact that each single human being has a touch point with so many others, be it the mother, father, siblings, neighbours, old schoolmates etc. The notion of just ending a life, let alone tens, hundreds, thousands through war, is something we should all find wholly unacceptable. Instead, we take sides and argue. It should never ever be about who’s wrong or who’s right. When women, children, the defenceless, start getting killed in their hundreds, there has to be another way to resolve whatever it is that caused a conflict. We have to be better. We have to do better.

I have been very vocal about the madness and unacceptable nature of illegal migration into the UK for instance, but by the same token, when we start to see bodies wash ashore or migrant hotels being attacked and set on fire, you have to pause for a moment. There must be technological means of controlling our borders and addressing this issue, in a manner that avoids such tragedy. We must find a way.

There must be a way to appease those who have become so hateful, that they spend hours and hours on the internet, spewing hate or are prepared to attached the police during riots or burn down hotels holding migrants or do all sorts. There must be a way to get through to us all, that we cannot, we must not, we should not ever, get to such a juncture, where we harbour that much hatred in our hearts. It is impossible to even begin to imagine where the world is heading, when we have now nurtured so much hate. All sides appear locked-in and their stances appear immovable: just look at the Democratic and Republican parties in the US. These are supposed to be 2 parties that should be able to agree to disagree but appear irretrievably locked-in to their differing positions.

We have to hope someone will unlock this at some point and pull us back from the brink!