Hate feels like strength. To have someone to despise and punish creates an illusion of Justice. People will give up quite a lot – freedom, peace, security, friends and family to have, and keep the anodyne of hatred. Anything is easier to take if you have someone to blame.
These are difficult times for many. Automation, which has de-skilled and sometimes eliminated entire categories of work without creating new ones at the same economic standard, globalization, which has forced workers to compete with goods made by workers living at far lower standard of living and safety, and social fracturing, caused by economic displacement and changing social mores, largely driven by economic and technological changes.
Oh, and lots and lots of greed. The rich have never been richer, nor have they ever so publicly demanded more and more.
The worker is expected to bear the weight of increasing demands for more productivity for less money, less security and less opportunity.
Those who are actually the authors of the misery of the working class are only too happy to direct the anger and fear of those they exploit into bigotry, loathing and violence. The rich own the public press, set the fashion, and provide most of the members of the political class. Their wealth buys them absolute access, and the ability to dominate the discourse. They hire paid shills to shout their message, and have the economic power to buy or bully dissenting voices.
When choosing a group for the exploited to blame and hate, the most convenient targets are those that have been traditionally treated as “others.” This is why the Jews have always been popular scapegoats, as have foreigners, people who live or love differently than the “mainstream,” or racial groups that are identifiably different than the owning class.
Dissenters and reformers are also favored targets. Parodying new, strange, frightening ideas is easy when your audience is, by your design and their preference, politically ignorant. You don't need to know much about politics or governance if all's you're really interested in is punishing someone for your fear. And knowing too much might complicate your thinking.
The fascist and the demagogue understand the comforts of hatred, and the use of scapegoats to manipulate public discontent. Their appeal consists of little else. It is as impossible to imagine Fascism without hatred and “othering” as it is to imagine Capitalism without exclusion and exploitation.
One of the interesting features of this type of manipulation is that the very person or group that is busily inciting hatred and division most vehemently, will almost invariably include in their stochastic calls for exclusion and violence a plea for solidarity, patriotism and unity. The fascist constantly appeals to unity, while aggravating and exploiting every cultural fracture and division.
This contradiction is not an accident. This is one of the most venerable, and most easily identified tactics that make up the Fascist political method. Social chaos and government paralysis are necessary conditions for the Fascist rise to power. It is not necessary for the Fascists to be a majority to gain power. It is only necessary for them to be the largest and loudest minority. Accordingly, it is in their interest to shatter public unity into as many small, competing factions as possible, counting on Fascist unity – united by common hatred, to allow them to dominate and absorb smaller factions.
Fascism is not the only ideology that relies upon hatred of the other to stabilize existing hierarchies. Capitalists of an authoritarian bent also exploit fear of “the undeserving poor” or “welfare fraud” to redirect anger away from themselves and their ever-increasing hoarding of resources, and their self-serving domination of the conditions of labor and purchasing.
Religious institutions often rely on this tactic as well, literally demonizing those outside the “flock” to justify the enforcement of social and ideological conformity, and to keep the donations coming in. The sense of being a persecuted and holy few, surrounded by morally depraved others ready to pounce on them and their children.
Generally, any political or social framework that relies on the quiescence of an exploited class will create a target for the discontent of the exploited, and direct all hostility their greed creates at the scapegoat. As sure as you find exploitation, you will find othering and the direction of hatred toward those who are othered.
Changing the minds of those who have been conditioned to hate is difficult, if it is possible at all. They are invested in their hatred, and those who exploit them are adept at making that hatred a part of the identity and self-worth of those they exploit.
The mindset is something like “I may be poor, downtrodden and desperate, but at least I'm not one of them.” If you then ask them to admit the equality of someone they have been encouraged to look down upon, they perceive this, not as raising the other, but as demoting them to the status of the despised. When you are accustomed to a position of privilege, no matter how illusory, arguments to equality feel like oppression.
As Lyndon Johnson put it:
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
- Moyers, Bill. What a Real President Was Like, The Washington Post, 13 November 1988.
A fun question to think about is "is there an actual emotion or sentiment that isn't used to manipulate and/or produce profit?"
"Everyone loves someone to hate". Not sure who said this but I still remember it. We are so used to the hateful, negative narrative that I'm not certain we are aware of it's consequences on us. I don't mean to gush, but I want you to know how very much I enjoy your writing. You are a brilliant man.