The Origin of Hate
An exclusively human trait
We may see ourselves as a superior species, intellectually and in many other respects, yet only humans have the capacity to hate. A very dubious honor to have, and nothing to be proud of, to say the least. Indeed, no other species has been found to possess this pernicious and deplorable attribute, which leads to discrimination, oppression, and in far too many cases, genocide.
That cats and dogs don’t get on very well with each other, is a known given, leading to the common expression, “They fight like dogs and cats”, or “They get on like dogs and cats.” Yet the antagonism between the canine and feline species is easily explained. It is both a form of instinct as well as defensive behavior: instinct since both mammals are hunters and genetically programmed to hunt creatures that flee from them, and defensive because the victim, in this case the cat, must defend itself if fleeing is not an option. Thus, the fundamental drive at work here is instinct and not hatred.
Instinct is the genetic software that spurs all living organisms to comply with three fundamental rules, the golden rules of biological life forms; to seek nourishment, to survive, and to multiply. Disobeying them results, usually, in the expiration of the individual animal in question, or an entire species. As we have seen in the course of the last millennia, hundreds of species have disappeared in the northern hemisphere, amongst them the docile dodo bird, the wisent or bison, the Eurasian aurochs (a type of bull), and many more. In most cases, most of these species vanished because they could not comply with the second golden rule due to predation by humans — a process still at work.
Given that other animal species are devoid of hatred, and that the animosity between them is simply their effort to comply with the golden rules of survival, instinct, and being that we consider ourselves to be civilized and not ruled by our basic instincts, what causes us, then, to hate? And why?
Hatred is defined as an ‘extreme dislike or aversion’, and ‘extreme hostility’ towards something or someone. And herein lies the crux of the matter; disliking or liking are both, essentially, emotions based on feelings, and both emotions and feelings are a reaction to its cause.
In other words, the causal relationship that consists of the object of hatred and the one who harbors it. The hated and the hater. The object may be animate (animals and humans), or inanimate (organic or non-organic matter, e.g., plants, books, or any other or object). One can hate beets, spinach, cod liver oil, exams, or doing the washing up. An example of the former is someone who hates an individual person or an entire group of people for any particular reason, for a trait they share, be it color, creed, sexual orientations, or political opinions. To this category belong racists, homophobes, misogynists, and anti-Semites. To the second category belong most of us, since we all hate one thing or another, be it exams or spinach. A fairly innocuous form of hatred.
We have established that hate is an emotion, an extreme one at that, and emotions, as the word implies, are manifested by that which moves us, literally or in terms of mood and behavior. In other words, the causal relationship aforementioned between hater and the hated. And this brings us to the old bone of contention amongst psychologists and sociologists, the argument of nature versus nurture: is behavior, and in this case, hate, learned (nurture) or instinctive (nature)?
The argument can be made that, Homo sapiens, being an animal is simply obeying the golden rules of survival, an argument that may be true, if it were not for our claim to be intelligent and beyond primitive behavior. The stereotype of the infamous troglodyte comes to mind here, wherein the male of the species solved all of his survival problems -and that of his mate- with his club or big stick. In contrast, modern humans would like to think that they have moved beyond and can now solve most conflicts, great and small, by other means, through dialogue and agreements, oral or written. Given this fact we can now look towards the other psychological component as an explanation for hatred, namely nurture — learnt behavior.
Our attitudes and beliefs about others are based on what we have been taught, implicitly, and, or explicitly by our parents, educators, textbooks, films, humor, and in some cases by demagogues such as Hitler and Trump. Instinct and the struggle to survive may have initially had a causal effect on our beliefs and behavior, but in most cases, these dissipate in time.
The ancient Romans and Greeks may have referred to Germanic tribes as barbarians, and the Spanish pejoratively to the French as ‘gabachos’, but nowadays respect and even admiration is mutual — the incidence of the last two world wars notwithstanding.
Conclusion: it is our upbringing, education and our ethnocentric culture which insidiously perpetuate discriminatory attitudes and behavior.
If we are to eradicate psychological and physical violence towards others, one must start at its roots, namely, the family and educators. When racists attitudes have been in force for hundreds of years, as is the case to this day, there must be a willingness to change and a will to shed one’s antagonism towards others if we are to stop hating.
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