A Dangerous Weapon Against Love and Hate

In honor of the Valentine’s Day of love, it is vitally important to clear up a major misunderstanding about love’s disrespected counterpart, hate.

Hate has been given a bad rap lately and that has greatly diminished its distinction as intensely different from judgment, evaluation, review, criticism, dislike and even meanness.

Don’t be a hater.
Haters gonna hate.
Meme Millennial

Since when is a hater someone who doesn’t think you or your products are worth buying? Since when is a hater someone who doesn’t like the clothes you wear or something you created? Since when is a hater someone who disagrees with you?

No, I am not bitter, I am not hateful, and I am not unforgiving. I just don’t like you.
C. JoyBell C

The truth is that the exact thing that makes people love you, is often the exact same thing that make other people hate you. The bigger you put yourself out there, the more you will be revered…and reviled.

Actually, although most e-critics feel really empowered from behind their screens, what they e-say about you is probably better classified as responsive evaluation rather than hate. Maybe you could do something powerful enough to conjure a response that could be classified as dislike, but instilling hatred requires taking a much greater stand.

You have enemies? Good, that means you’ve stood for something in your life.
Winston Churchill

If you’re a teenager, you’re in luck. You may not have to do anything beyond existing to get others to dislike you. So exist. Or live large. Live perfectly imperfectly. They will feel it about you and say it about you anyway. But there’s more.

Increasingly there are clues that we’re starting to see a revolution. It is time that people who accidentally empower those hate-imposters know about a powerful weapon used by the revolutionaries. Although often cloaked in humor, its effectiveness is not a laughing matter. We see it when celebrities read the meanest tweets about them. We hear it as the rudest Facebook post about the DJ are read aloud on the radio. We know it as we embrace the worst nicknames ever bestowed upon us and wear them with pride on our own hats and t-shirts. We create memes in their honor.

 

 

And the weapon begins to wield its power.

For you, a creator attempting to make a difference in ways big and small, the enemy of love is not hate. There is a far more powerful enemy of love that stands as a powerfully common enemy of hate.

That enemy is indifference.

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.
Elie Wiesel 

Because indifference is a powerful weapon against both love and hate, this dangerous tool must be brandished sparingly and with caution. Successfully using this weapon requires one to understand and respect hate’s distinction. 

When you want to fight hate, grab your weapon.

Used against constructive criticism or ever hurtful evaluation, it can prevent you from striving to improve. It can create a false sense of entitlement. Against hate, indifference kills.

Used against pursuing what or whom you love, this weapons kills passion. On this Valentine’s Day, don’t fight love with indifference.