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What is Hate?
Hint: It’s not disagreement (or at least it shouldn’t be)
With an army of Orcs relentlessly battering their way into the inner citadel, the remaining survivors of Helm’s Deep shore up the defenses as best they can, knowing the end draws near. Exhausted and weary, King Theoden laments, “So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?”
To this, the mighty warrior Aragorn replies, “Ride out and meet them,” triggering one of the coolest and most inspiring sequences of the all-time great film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
But rather than write a review of The Two Towers (one of my favorite movies) or break down the scene further (something I’m quite tempted to do), I want to take up King Theoden’s question.
We may not be facing an endless army of vicious Orcs (thankfully), but it does seem that our world (online and offline) is faltering under a relentless wave of hate.
What can we do in the face of such hate?
To answer that, it’s important we understand what hate is — and what it is not. Misdiagnosing hate can (and often does) lead to even greater problems and more hate. So we need to get our definitions right.
