Hate and ignorance are two of our worst enemies, but no one here has touched on fear as an important aspect of this. In general, people have a difficult time with things that are different. Somehow to many people, if you are 'different' you are not 'normal' and if you are not normal, you're someone to be feared.
A different skin color? You are feared. Isn't racism to a great extent based on fear? When slaves were slaves, they 'simply' had to be thought of as less than human. Was that 'ignorance' or justification - perhaps both. When they were freed, they began to be feared. The Vote for women? Oh no! They wouldn't know who to vote for! It isn't 'right'! ...Fear that the power of the male would be eroded. Waves of immigrants into the US... fear that these new people would take over neighborhoods, jobs, etc; fear based on differences.
Someone has mentioned the religious right and the more 'conservative' religions, I think, do play a part. For the most part these churches are ruled by strict dogma, whether formal or just built into the church belief system. To an extent, these kinds of churches play a positive role for some people whose lives have fallen apart through drugs, alcohol or other factors. These churches provide a simple structure and a simple belief system; believe xyz and you will be 'saved'. And for many, that does in fact 'save' them in many important ways. But then that simple belief system rules out so much. Further, those church members almost have to stop thinking and simply believe what their religious leaders tell them. In many cases, the cover may even be such things as "love your neighbor"...as long as they are JUST like you or "love the person, hate the sin" ...but if that person doesn't jump to become a clone, there are some pretty negative ways of 'loving'!
Our politics to one extent or another are based on fear, we've got to build our military because we fear the "enemy"; we've got to have a War on Drugs because we fear crime; we've got to legislate school curriculum because we fear people who we think might take our own personal religious beliefs and reject them; we fear gay marriage because we're led to believe it will erode heterosexual marriages. On and on. I'm rambling and just on a rant. Sorry.
Perhaps a good point for us to remember is that as much as many of us live in fear of a LOT of things both real and imagined, those around us fear. I'm horribly afraid of telling my wife that I'm trans. That in itself is a bit of 'ignorance' of how she'll really react. When I do finally tell her, she's going to be upset and afraid of what it will do to our lives - that's a level of ignorance. My HOPE is that we can talk. And talk. And talk some more, dispelling some of the ignorance of how we feel, what this might mean for us individually and as a couple. This is small scale, but an important starting place.
It seems things start from ignorance, lead to fear which ultimately leads to hate. To the extent we can break through ignorance, we can decrease fear, and hopefully avoid fear.
We know this is not going to be over anytime soon. We don't seem to be doing too well with racial relations, politics, or social justice. Even our commercial advertising hinges on presenting an image rather than real information - ignorance.
And while I contend that we can fight ignorance, fear and hate by spreading first hand knowledge, this is kind of a negative rant... perhaps based on the 'fear' that things won't change...
