Why Are People So Irrationally Hateful?

[nogard64]

ok 1) Psychologist have concluded in order for humans to get through the day and we have to filter things out and generalize the stimuli we receive, our brain has to quickly lump things/people in a group or category or else we would be overwhelmed and we'd just collapse from over stimuli.

2) your examples seems to only list and point out offenses made by the white americans, you think its only white that make these hateful generalizations? And who and why was there an 9/11 attack? Could it be Muslims who hatefully generalize America as a sinful evil nation?

I think maybe I'm just to turn your assertion around on you, you think its white who perpetrate so much "irrational hate" on others, yet in 2012 it seems like its the average white person who are guilt-ed and bullied and facing more hate than any other group.

PS- And if you think I'm a white KKK member you couldn't be more wrong, I'm not white but I see a lot of my friends who are, are so afraid to make a joke or unintentionally offend others.

[Mandible]

It's in no way limited to americans, it's a worldwide phenomenom. Generalization is deeply rooted in human nature.

I didn´t say it was limited to americans, but the initial post had two examples with americans hence I asked what kind of reference we were talking about.

[CptEgo]

In my case, scepticism and judging of muslims is not irrational at all. Where I live 8/10 crimes of any kind are committed by muslims/immigrants. Thats a fact, and thats why I sometimes feel "hateful" against them..

[Deleted]

In my case, scepticism and judging of muslims is not irrational at all. Where I live 8/10 crimes of any kind are committed by muslims/immigrants. Thats a fact, and thats why I sometimes feel "hateful" against them..

Yes because crime statistics follow the religious advocation of the perpetrators. I call bull without sources.

[Lily Crowley]

Much has already been said here. Humans are still a very primitive species. A lot of them are still unintelligent and acting on primitive urges and doesn't even want to TRY to understand something outside their own bubble.

As for the examples you mentioned; what was it that hit Japan again earlier this year? Was it a tsunami, hurricane or something? Anyways, Twitter was then full of Americans tweeting shit like "payback for pearl harbor bitches" "karma ya'll #pearlharbor" etc. Suffice to say I was thoroughly disgusted.
What on EARTH does the current Japanese inhabitants (both adults and innocent children) have to do with Pearl Harbor!? How the fuck can you be so disgusting you say they deserve what happened to them!?

It'd be like me going around laughing at bad things befalling Germans, just because Hitler invaded my country back in the days.


I just cannot fathom how some people can be so utterly blind and just shitty all around.

[PizzaSHARK]

I just cannot fathom how some people can be so utterly blind and just shitty all around.

Internet anonymity. They know there're no consequences for douchebaggery on the internet.

[Kerath]

Herd mentality, "groupthink", our own unconscious prejudices shining through in snap judgements (even those of us that do our best to put aside our prejudices, because our conscious minds know that they're wrong/uninformed/outdated, are guilty of this). As individuals, humans are pretty intelligent. As a large group, we can be pretty fucking dumb, to be blunt.

This article touches on some of the things you're asking about, and is pretty interesting (or I thought so, anyway - it's a pretty old article though):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...roup-mentality

[RüneRS]

People are stupid, the reason we know this, is because of the internet

[Samoflange]

Because the act of irrationally hating something or someone indirectly self-promotes one to be superior.

[Rukentuts]

We cannot find a logical explanation to "irrational hatred". That's why it's irrational.

[Deleted]

When will people start using their brains?

You call it irrational hate, but I call it rational. People are hating other people BECAUSE they are using their brains.

Generalization is about seeing a pattern and protecting yourself from said pattern. Yes, you might occasionally offend someone. But you're safer in the long run.

Most generalizations have a basis in truth, why deny that? I think not being suspicious of someone or something ever means that it's YOU who is NOT using their brain. It's called being naive.

[Deleted]

Where i live people are very much encouraged to believe that gypsies leech on welfare tax payers money and are a bunch of hobo stealing scum that are nothing but filth.

You know, when a society is so hateful of a particular group the word basicly changes.

[Stir]

I suspect it's the us-and-them mentality we developed early on as the earliest Homo sapiens led social lives in groups in competition with rival tribes over resources. It's a powerful behaviour that ensured survival in the harsh environment where strength and numbers meant a lot. Easy to say it's just instinct that we can put away, but the evolution of millions of years doesn't simply get dismissed that easily.

This is pretty much it, paired with the fact that there's too many humans, and the natural territory for a human pack is quite large.

In my case, scepticism and judging of muslims is not irrational at all. Where I live 8/10 crimes of any kind are committed by muslims/immigrants. Thats a fact, and thats why I sometimes feel "hateful" against them..

There's quite a huge difference between 'muslim' and 'immigrant.' The difference is so huge, in fact, that the two shouldn't be mentioned in the same manner... Ever.
When you can't use your terminology correctly, it becomes impossible for us to see you your judging of muslims is not irrational.

It seems to me that you base your assumptions on who is or is not 'muslim' on nothing more than racial features.

[Dasffion]

I think that, at least in America, we're not exposed to enough outside cultures, especially in Suburbia. Which is kind of ironic America being the melting pot that it is. There are millions of people though that grow up and know nothing beyond their city, let alone their country, and despite our freedom of religion we're a Christan state and by and large are ignorant of other religions, with the possible exception of Judaism.

EDIT: Really it all boils down to Ignorance. Take 9/11, most of the uninformed populace blames Iraq and hates them for it but they're ignorant of the fact that most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

[Adam Jensen]

Tribalism. We hate other tribes to protect our own tribes. Its a holdover instinct from our hunter gatherer days. With globalism and international relationships this instinct is now backfiring against us to only hurt us. It is an instinct we must learn to overcome.

[Torq]

There's quite a huge difference between 'muslim' and 'immigrant.' The difference is so huge, in fact, that the two shouldn't be mentioned in the same manner... Ever.
When you can't use your terminology correctly, it becomes impossible for us to see you your judging of muslims is not irrational.

It seems to me that you base your assumptions on who is or is not 'muslim' on nothing more than racial features.

You're neglecting an important detail: You have no idea what the makeup of the immigrant population is like in his area. He could live in an area in which 90% of the immigrants are muslim, in which case using the terms interchangeably isn't too far from the truth.

Making the assumption that the two are different is as bad of an assumption as the one you're accusing him of making.

When you argue semantics like this, it just makes you look like a tool.

OT: People hate others and discriminate because it's easier to put someone down than it is to prove yourself better than them. People tend to be very motivated by competition; every action can be linked to some desire to be "better" than someone. If one can't prove themselves to be objectively better than someone else, they resort to creativity: they find ways to be "better" (in their minds), or they devise ways in which the other person is inferior (thus making them feel better about themselves).

The above post is a great example of this sort of behavior.

[TheGravemind]

You call it irrational hate, but I call it rational. People are hating other people BECAUSE they are using their brains.

Generalization is about seeing a pattern and protecting yourself from said pattern. Yes, you might occasionally offend someone. But you're safer in the long run.

Most generalizations have a basis in truth, why deny that? I think not being suspicious of someone or something ever means that it's YOU who is NOT using their brain. It's called being naive.

It's not rational at all because it's not sound logic. You are extrapolating a pattern off of a very limited sample size, thus making for a very flawed inductive argument. You say that "you're safer in that long run," but that's utterly asinine considering that an individual of a collective NEVER speaks for the entire collective, even when it comes to elected leaders.

[Torq]

It's not rational at all because it's not sound logic. You are extrapolating a pattern off of a very limited sample size, thus making for a very flawed inductive argument. You say that "you're safer in that long run," but that's utterly asinine considering that an individual of a collective NEVER speaks for the entire collective, even when it comes to elected leaders.

He's saying that the behavior pattern evolved for a reason; something that I agree with. Superstition (which generalization is a derivative of) has a very important place in the whole learning process.

[PACOX]

Even in America, most people are too scared to venture out of their cultural norms. We rather poke fun of other cultures than try to understand them. This is why I suggest every college student in the US to take some sort of race&ethnicity/ multicultural class. We are a culturally diverse nation but still ruled by the bigotry of our grandparents.

Take time to really get know cultures outside of your own instead of just tolerating them. Understands that people of a particular culture are individuals and not just another face behind a label.