The Nature of Hate
I was over at Dean Esmay's place earlier today. Dean tells us he is working on a book, along with John Eddy. Go for it, guys. I wish you the best of luck.

That wasn't what I was going to discuss, though. Dean has this interesting post regarding Hate. I made a comment, but eventually I remembered that I have my own blog, and I should probably do my ranting over there.

My gut reaction was to disagree. Hate has been a destructive force throughout the history of humanity. I am hard-pressed to think of any constructive thing that has been accomplished by hate. Additionally, we have discussed my serious pursuit of virtue in a few previous posts, and so Hate seemed ananthema to my goals.

After a few minutes, though, I started to think over my initial reaction. I still can't think of anything constructive accomplished through hatred. But hate, in and of itself, doesn't appear to be evil. It isn't listed among the Seven Deadly Sins. It is an emotion, and therefore subject to the same caveats and controls as other emotions.

Few people would argue that Love is destructive. The few that would, however, will prove my point. Even the most noble of emotions, when unchecked, can become destructive. Hate, unfortunately, is one of those emotions that we have difficulty exercising in moderation.

Dean, in the post mentioned above, provides a list of people that are worthy of universal hatred. If I were to find myself in need of such a list, this is probably the same list I would make. I only have one issue with it, and that is of a personal nature.

In my line of work (saving the world), I don't just talk about fighting against Evil. I have seen Evil. I have met Evil. I put a vast amount of my time, talent, and energy into fighting Evil. Hatred, while a great enabler, is more often a great distraction. Hatred clouds the judgement much the same way that Love does. In this fight, I can't afford that distraction.