Seems to me that Rush, the FOX crew and Trump did NOT inject hatred into our society and they

[Atticus]

did NOT teach people to hate.

These malignant money-grubbers simply told the perpetually pissed off that the hatred they already harbored for those who were "different" was justified and it was "only right" to blame them for their own many failings.

The main character in a popular movie about Wall Street several years ago preached "Greed is good!" Those I named and countless others expanded on that and preached to their choir that racism, misogyny, lying, theft, vulgarity and even physical assaults were perfectly acceptable as long as they were directed toward "them".

I don't pretend to know how to reverse the nihilistic "nothing matters so anything goes" attitude that is so proudly proclaimed by---let's just say it---most of the Republican party and their white supremacist "fellow travelers". I just know that I will call their hateful bullshit by its name if it is uttered within earshot of me.

Silence is acceptance and I don't need any "friends" that aren't comfortable with that.

[DSandra]

1. But they are equally evil in convincing people to listen to their inner devil...

And helping that devil kill off their inner angel.

[Bucky]

2. I dunno. My experience with emotions and faulty perceptions is that they grow if fed

If you take the view that the hatred and bigotry and anger were already just there already in peoples' hearts, then you're taking a pretty grim view of your fellow human beings.

I think they've been given a mythology of power and nihilism and it feeds into their psychological need to bond and belong. But I can't give up on the idea that more people can be won over to hope if given proper leadership and inspiration. I think what I've studied about the nation that beat the Depression and fascism and Jim Crow and Communism and the crippling poverty that existed before the Great Society still exists. I don't think we've lost that character, only that we've lost touch with it.

I don't see why I'd fight to beat the 21st century problems if we couldn't show our fellow human beings a better way. It won't be easy, of course, but nothing worth accomplishing ever is.

[Atticus]

6. I don't disagree. We all have ugly thoughts and desires that most of us are taught to manage and---

most of the time---conceal. But, then along comes the Hater in Chief to assure anyone who will listen that it is their "right" to hate and hurt people who are "different" in any way. And, too many are beguiled into following him and his fellow ranters down any rabbit hole that suits their purpose.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[hlthe2b]

3. Hatred is a learned phenomenon (infants/toddlers/young children don't start out hating

there may be lots of sources of introduction, but Rush, Trump, other RW media were both a source of introduction and incitement.

They may not have been the original source for a lot of people, but they certainly may have been for some. And for others, the match and breath that nurtured that flame into the bonfire it is today.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

4. They didn't inject it, they harnessed it.

Then they used it. The result of it we saw on January 6th.

[Glamrock]

5. Brother Atticus,

I dig what you are saying, man. But at the same time, I kinda have to disagree. Yes, you are correct that they didn't teach people to hate. No doubt. However, they have used their powerful positions to "catapult the propaganda", in the words of someone I thought I hated and thought was the worst president in American history. I have since been proven wrong.

You are absolutely correct. They didn't inject or teach. That much is true. But even worse, they know what they are doing. And they are doing it for political power and $$$$. They need to be held to account. Period.

Just my cent and a half brother (not really smart enough to have two cents... )

[Atticus]

8. Thanks for that. I think we basically agree. And, as for your "smarts", I don't think you take

a back seat to anyone in that department.

(You're a little silly when you're "small", but ain't we all?)

[Glamrock]

10. Right on right on.

Self deprecation is part of me personality. I think it came from trying to choke back my singer ego...

And thanks for the compliment. High kudos from someone of your stature!

Oh! And congrats on your 10,000 baby! Kinda hard to believe it's that low, to be honest. Seems like you are always making me think. But the last four years have felt like 400 so there's that...

[JHB]

7. It's kind of irrelevant whether they "taught" people to hate...

They encouraged it, fostered it, and fed it. Whether it was originally full-on hatred or just petty resentments and pet peeves, they not only blew on those embers, they set up an industrial blower to turn it not just into a flame but into a foundry. A foundry that 1) made them money and 2) pushed right-wing/conservative ideology.

IMO, the distinction you make ends up moot at this late date.

[Glamrock]

11. Couldn't (and obviously didn't) have said it better myself.

Great fucking analogy , man.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. oh yes, they did...they enabled the cult through non stop hatred and lies.

just my opinion, of course

catalysts, perhaps? propaganda in action for sure

[LanternWaste]

12. I think that we all of us posses the same six types of basic emotion

But through deontic ethics, civic jurisprudence, and cause-and-effect (i.e, consequence of action), we learn throughout our lives to (in effect) "listen to the better angels of our nature..."

Limbaugh, hate-radio (and I suppose, cable news-- which I'm not at all familiar with for the past ten or fifteen years) may not have invented it, but have perfected the ability to rationalize, justify and to an extent, normalize many of the worst aspects of the post-industrial human race.

They have engendered the sentiment that rage and greed are not simply righteous, but a civic obligation. That the debasement of a person for no reason other than a disagreement of political opinions is more than enough to label our neighbors as 'enemies'

They have peddled a pablum of easy-to-digest responses which results in self-validation, a series of excuses for not being a millionaire, and watching our neighbors burn.

And so many people have bought that bill of goods because both mental ease and moral convenience are viscerally satisfying. Discipline (both mental and moral) however, is as difficult to understand as is it to achieve. Hence, it becomes suspect at best, book-burning material at worst.


(This opinion that I've held for 20 years is directly influenced by the book 'Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues', by Steven Cahn & Peter Markie')

[OneGrassRoot]

13. GOP White supremacy n/t