2019 Most Philosophical Student in America

Sahith Kudaravalli, California.

 

Hate or Love: Which Has a Greater Impact on Society?

The debate about hate or love has remained in the shadow of supposedly more controversial topics such as the legalization of marijuana. Surprisingly, the issues at stake in this standoff go well beyond these other discourses. Indeed, successfully arguing for or against love v. hate might provide seminal insights into how debaters in other areas might come into a consensus. While the other camp might present some strong views, albeit flawed, hate is persistent, which means that the subsequent train of adverse consequences last for a long time.

Hate has a greater impact on society becasue it is difficult to stop, which means its effects last for longer, Referring to the Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi conflict, hatred between these two groups, which began back in 1972, led to the brutal murder of between 800,000 and 1 million members by 1994. The Tutsis believe that they have greater social and wealth status relative to the Hutus. Thus, they often refused to integrate the Hutus equally into society. The international community has tried resolving the conflict using different humanitarian and warfare approaches vainly (Beaucamp par. 24). Consequently, the hate has lasted even in the modern day, where deaths among the two groups are still rife.

The opposition between the Hutus and Tutsis reveals that the persistence of hate usually leads to unending deaths. Since it is difficult to stop the hate, brutal deaths will always occur. Unfortunately, violence leads to violence, and it is difficult to unilaterally fault someone who has been traumatized from inflicting pain. Nonetheless, losing a loved one especially through unconventional means, for example, murder, creates intense psychological hardships for the vicitm’s family. These mental problems escalate as more loved ones are murdered. Other than the immediate family, the entire society also experiences suffering, as it has to cater for the cost of hatred. For instance, the government is supposed to compensate those who die out of hate between ethnic communities. However, this added cost implies that the government will not have enough funds to initiate projects that drive the economy. The resulting low economic activity will cause unemployment, besides motivating the existing entrepreneurs to transfer their productive resources to other countries. In effect, the country gradually degrades to the third world country status (Florida).

Some people claim that love promotes prosperity because each person is motivated to help one another. Hence, with love, everyone achieves excellence, which is the building block for progress as a society. While it is true that love might trigger prosperity, feelings of insecurity and the death of people have a greater weight for society. It is better to lack prosperity than to have innocent people being murdered or living in fear all the time. Besides, irrespective of how love builds a fulfilling society, even the slightest incidence of hate will destroy everything within a very short time. Love is the idealistic but impractical move for paying recompense to those killed in hate crimes. Therefore, to many, the concern for hate far exceeds the appreciation for love.

Works Cited
Beauchamp, Zack. Rwanda’s genocide - what happened, why it happened, and how it still matters. Vox, 10 April 2014. https://www.vox.com/2014/4/10/5590646/rwandan-geno cide-anniversary. Accessed 26 March 2019.
Florida, Richard. The Geography of Hate. The Atlantic. 11 May 2011. https://www.theatlantic.co m/national/archive/2011/05/the-geography-of-hate/238708/. Accessed 26 March 2019.

 

 

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