The Psychology of Hate

 

 The Ethnic Ex Experience perience in th the e United States - Am American erican India Indians ns Studies Studies,, CSULB, Fall 2001 2001 Dr. Johnson, Dr. Henry, Dr. Delgado and Dr. Toji AIS, CHLS, B/ST, ASAM, W/ST 316 By James R. Walker

The Psychology of Hate A document recounting my understanding of the speech given by Dr. Pamela Roberts regarding the psychology of hate.

California State University Long Beach AIS, CHLS, B/ST, ASAM, W/ST 319 Dr. Johnson, Dr. Henry, Dr. Delgado and Dr. Toji October 2001 By James R. Walker

I am a forty-four year old man who has childhood memories of the Viet-Nam war, the Granada military action and more rec recently ently the Gulf War. I have some 17 OCT 2001

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 The Ethnic Ex Experience perience in th the e United States - Am American erican India Indians ns Studies Studies,, CSULB, Fall 2001 2001 Dr. Johnson, Dr. Henry, Dr. Delgado and Dr. Toji AIS, CHLS, B/ST, ASAM, W/ST 316 By James R. Walker

understanding of the concepts and ramifications regarding war as I served in the United States Navy as a missile missile downlink data technician. However, I have never had experienced the feelings and thoughts that I now have regarding the terrorist attack against the United States on September September 11, 2 2001. 001. On October 10, 2 2001 001 I attended the Teach-In. Teach-In. I sat through the entire program and began to unde understand rstand some of the facets of this quite c complicated omplicated eve event. nt. Dr. Roberts bro brought ught light to the subject of the psychology of war in her address entitled, The Psychology of  Hate. In this writ, I w will ill share what I learned from her present presentation. ation. Dr. Roberts explains the psychological precepts necessary to enable an individual or a nation to demonize an ideology, nation or an individual. As she unfolded the complex attributes of the psychology of hate, I began to see that this has happened before in my my personal life and in this country during World War II. I also learned that these mental processes are not necessarily rational and are held by individuals without any critical analysis. In the words that follow I w will ill recount, as I understood it, all of these percepts. In order for a person or a group of people to morally justify heinous acts against another person or group, moral disengagement must be fully developed in the mind. This is accom accomplished plished through the follow following ing mental proc processes: esses: 1) Moral justification / rationale. This is the act of creating plausible, if not inaccurate, accusations against the the target, that is the person or group. Political propaganda is the agent agent of this dece deception. ption. The news media is the most likely vehicle of propaganda. propaganda. In this stage, norm normal al rules of justice and equality do not

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 The Ethnic Ex Experience perience in th the e United States - Am American erican India Indians ns Studies Studies,, CSULB, Fall 2001 2001 Dr. Johnson, Dr. Henry, Dr. Delgado and Dr. Toji AIS, CHLS, B/ST, ASAM, W/ST 316 By James R. Walker

apply. It is an exam example ple of extreme subjectivism. People begin to believe just what their fiat dictates. 2) Labels. Here the perc perceived eived enem enemy y is given an appropriate nam name e to reinforce the evil attributed to the target. Furthermore, euphe euphemisms misms are used to so soften ften the emotional blow to the minds of the label lab el makers to the aggressions they are heaping upon the target. 3) Advantageous comparison. This is simply a convenient re reconstruction construction and distortion of a past event. The event is see seen n and described differently in o order rder to draw parallels to the current event thereby further justifying the hate. 4) Displacement Displacement of responsibility. To displace ones' re responsibility sponsibility is to place it upon another. Consequently, people think to them themselves, selves, "I am not the one doing the act." This is a device to ease the conscience of the individu individual al or group even though the individual may condone and even encourage the act. 5) Diffusion of responsibility. responsibility. This is related to the above however, this mental construct dictates that the responsibility is shared across so many individuals that the full impact upon any one conscience is insignificant therefore, tolerable. 6) Collective action. Quite simply, this is the e entire ntire group inertia of single mindedness to one end. end. In other words, ever everybody ybody desires the sam same e outcome to his or her efforts. 7) Distortion of consequences. consequences. It is important to ignore any possible consequences of the aggressions taking place in order to continue the aggressive acts. Everyone does this to one degree or another. When a nation does this, the impact can be horrific. 17 OCT 2001

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 The Ethnic Ex Experience perience in th the e United States - Am American erican India Indians ns Studies Studies,, CSULB, Fall 2001 2001 Dr. Johnson, Dr. Henry, Dr. Delgado and Dr. Toji AIS, CHLS, B/ST, ASAM, W/ST 316 By James R. Walker

8) Dehumanization. Dehumanization. Intimately entw entwined ined with labeling this is the c cognitive ognitive development of an image of the target as being not like you, that is not worthy of  being considered as human or humane. Again, this bolsters the uncritical  justification  justificatio n of hate hate.. And finally, 9) Blame the victim. It seems so outrageous as w we e consider this aspect of the psychology psychology of hate; so illogical and inappropriate. However, o often ften after an attack—physical or psychological— the perpetrator assumes that the actions of the target person or people warranted the aggression again thus  justifying  justify ing bot both h the h hate ate an and d the act. I cannot help but reflect on how many times these mental processes pave taken place within myself. myself. Due to this campus e event, vent, I am forever changed. Perhaps I am now in in some small w way ay edified by attending the Te Teach-ln. ach-ln. I am certainly grateful for the time time and effort the professors invested invested into this event. I am left with an indelible enlightening perspective, which I will carry with me as an active component component of my experienc experience e of life ‘till the end of my d days. ays. I cannot express the depth of my gratitude for this price priceless less gift. To all those profes professors sors who presented speeches on that day I give my profound thanks.  James  Jame s R. W Walker alker

 The cursiv cursive e writing writing below that praise praises s my paper was written by Dr. Dr. Johnson Johnson..

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