Possible to genuinely hate someone you do not know personally?

[Deleted]

It's possible for sure

I'm sure if you were told in detail of the horrific crimes of some rapist murderer who abused and killed hundreds of children including some of your own family - even if you did not know them personally - you would likely hate them, and quite genuinely so

This obsession with never feeling "negative" emotions (like hatred or shame) is kind of creepy, some people want to sanitise all human interaction this way but it just doesn't work to make us better people, or really even make sense, it's fake

[Deleted]

People use the word hate a lot, huge understatement there but a lot more than "dislike." But when I use the tend to use the word apparently inappropriately, some people I know claim I don't really understand the weight of claiming you hate someone.

Like take this example, there's a particular person I really hate online but don't know personally, to where I casually claim I wish he even died often. It seemingly holds no merit to anyone else because I don't know this person personally or have spoken to him. He simply annoys me with his general behavior on social media, and that's the basis for why I "hate" him.

I think it makes no sense because that would mean you can't truly hate someone like, say, Osama Bin Laden even if his acts of terrorism did not affect YOU. He is (was) evil, so wouldn't that be enough justification?

I agree with you, it is entirely possible.

[Christan]

not knowing them at all versus not having ever interacted with them are entirely separate things.

you can indeed HATE someone you interact with, whether online or irl, because you know them by their actions.

may the person act differently in real life? yes, chances are if they invoke such an emotion as hate online, they are acting as keyboard cowboys, when in real life they're scrawny or fat things with barely an ability to fight their own battles, and the internet is the only way they can feel some sort of control over their lives, by making others feel bad.
mind, that is ofc not 100% true, but 9/10, i'd bet it holds.

now, can you hate people you've never met? napoleon, gengis khan, hitler, etc...most likely it depends on how their actions are followed in current society, hitler was bad, people still talk about him like wth evil incarnate!(truth he is evil) gengis khan? not many hate him, most are like...Who is that?
he killed a larger population per capita than hitler even glanced at, he was a warmonger, he deserves as much hate as hitler but in some movies he is idolized, so on...so forth...

but yes indeed, you can hate people you've never met also, but that is more societies roll in instilling hate/love/etc.
everyone loved princess diane, hell, she deserved love, or at least adoration, by western morals, but even then not everyone knew her personally, much less even heard a single word she said outside of news outlets.

another thing. is hate isn't such a strong word, loathing imho is a stronger word since more often it implies action taken towards the hated.
it like...combines hatred with disgust..
webster dictionary for example:
a very strong feeling of hatred or disgust

loathing is hatred plus some.

so.. while hatred is a strong feeling, i find it entirely possible to feel it towards someone you've never even met, or even interacted with.
loathing though? it has to be something done specifically to you, or your friends/family.


thought i'd add in some examples lol
i dislike someone i see spitting ON the sidewalk, vs off in the grass(grass at least i don't have to walk on)
i dislike someones voice if it's to annoying to me (pure opinion here, some may love nasaly voices, it may not bother some, but i dislike those' voices, not the people behind em, but i dislike listening to em)
i dislike people who doublepark.

i hate being lied to, deceived etc, more than dislike, something you dislike is a drop in the bucket, it won't matter, being deceived is like getting rained on, a flood overwhelming said bucket.
i hate perpetrators of violent crimes, (not for say, just fist fights, but people who take overwhelming advantage"baseball bats" and beat others down, and sexual criminals) HATE them
i hate people like hitler, and other mass murderers of history.

i, only LOATH, three people, all of which i know personally, and while i have no idea where they are now, i pray i'm never put in a position where i could, even temporarily gain enough advantage to do something truely dreadful, THAT is how much i hate them.
that i fear for my own actions around them.

hate...in respect to that, is a mild emotion, as mild to loathing, as hate is to just disliking someone.
or in other words, hate has many different levels, and is a pretty broad term of extreme dislike, some forms of it like loathing, means you wouldn't piss on them if on fire, to the point of worrying about self control if around them.
just saying hate, is entirely proper and many people who use it properly get told they're using it wrong.

to the OP
what i would tell the people who disapprove of your wording is
"hate, as an emotion is an opinion, please look up the definition for loathing, which is what you think hate is, apparently.
i more than dislike THIS person, i talk to on social media, i hate them, but i do not loath them.

[ItachiZaku]

I hate Eminem, Derek Jeter, and Hillary Clinton. Not necessarily in that order.

[Shadowferal]

Hatred is a passion and usually reserved for people you know personally, not for things you take personally.

A person can take your car, your house...and it won't mean as much as the person that takes your love and trust, essentially your heart; that's the one you will respond to vehemently. (although I suppose it may depend on what you value the most)

[Deleted]

I have met a lot of people who hate me and my family, my parents are non-white immigrants and I was born here. That's enough for those people to hate me and my family.

[Dadwen]

Possible to genuinely hate someone you do not know personally?

Yes.......

[Dug]

Well I never met Hitler but I genuinely hate the dude so yeah.

[Lahkesis]

I think it's possible for some people to believe that they are experiencing an emotion that they identify as "Hate", but I wouldn't say that I think it is actually genuine hatred in most cases.

Hatred represents a commitment so intense in scrutiny and emotional investment that it is almost like being in love. It's certainly a dark parallel to love rather than its opposite. Never have I cared so much about the life of an individual more than when I was in the grips of an obsessive hate.

You make the choice to feel that way, it represents a committed action on your part as much as love does. So if you choose to hate someone and make that investment in someone you don't even know, then sure you can feel hated under any circumstances. But I think the flippant use of "Oh, I hate them" as a descriptor, no, I think that's colloquial use of the word at best and doesn't, nor should it, represent genuine hate.

[Forgettable]

I hate you all, so...yes.

Love you too bro!

[Sliske]

Hate is subjective.

When I say I hate people that are arrogant and ignorant at the same time, I mean i genuinely don't want to be around them, and if I am, i'll probably either start a confrontation over some bullshit they're doing, or get into one another way. That said, would I attack them in the street? Would I shout obscenities at them across the street? No.

I don't think i'd do that about anyone though.

My logic is fairly simple on people i like, people im fine with and people I hate. Lets take a wow dungeon as the scenario, since most of us play that game. Lets broadly narrow the bad players into two categories.

1. The guys who don't care, but aren't a hassle. These guys join your group, do terrible dps, but they don't ninja pull, they don't wipe their ass in chat. They don't do shit. They're terrible and they probably know it and don't care, or don't care to improve. These guys are fine in my books. I'm fine carrying this guy through a random heroic that I overgear.

2. The guys who are absolutely terrible, but also are totally arrogant. This is what I like to call "the worst people alive" its almost become a daily fucking occurrence to me both IRL and in games - ignorance + arrogance, that is, they don't know what the fuck they're doing or talking about, but that doesn't stop them from wiping their ass on your face and the entire area they inhabit at the time. These people I genuinely hate, as much hate as I can muster, anyway.

Arrogance is fine. I don't mind that. If you're a world first raider or a CEO of a top company, I think you've earned the right to be confident / arrogant.

Ignorance is also fine. How the hell can I expect everyone to know the exact stat weights of their spec, or how to fix a malfunctioning till at a shop i'm being served at? I don't expect anyone to know anything, unless they agree to something that specifically requires them to know that.

The problem occurs when you combine the two. Ignorance + Arrogance, which again is "You know absolutely fuck all, but you're still confident as fuck, confident enough to put other people down, or even patronise them with faulty advise"

I think you can trace this combo of traits to basically anyone you hate. Street preachers or TV preachers? Definitely. Muslim extremists? Definitely. Assholes in your group? You bet. The boss at your last job that patronised you constantly? You know it. I honestly can't think of a combo of traits more insufferable than Ignorance + Arrogance.

[Scyclone]

Oh man... do I have a list for you folks!

Espe, Thermus, Daerio, Tennisarse, Endus and a few others can check themselves off on my list of personal loathing and torment.

But... generally, most of ya'll are pretty good. Even Dugraka, who is sort of like a retarded cousin that is too endearing to actually hate, because we disagree on literally everything but he still gets my respect because he is Dugraka.

[Deleted]

those vine and music.ly kids who make shit tons of money doing like nothing

[Lex Icon]

i'm easilly annoyed.. and anger usually follows that and soon enough hate.

just because i hate someone doesn't mean i'll bash their skull in as soon as i see them.

[Molis]

I hate all people equally.

[Tico]

If it is a normal person, yes, it is possible, but not wise. If it is a known person (and deserves it), I think people can gain enough information to hate them genuinely. In general, judgiongsomeone turns out to be not wise because in most of the cases we cannot gain enough genuine information, only biased.

[Rudkobing]

Yes, it's possible.

[Independent voter]

Isn't hating someone you don't know the source of much of the evil on the planet? Racism? War?

[the game]

Pretty sure everyone hates Kanye West too.