Stop Spreading Hate

Let's spread compassion and work for justice instead

In 1978, I remember lying in bed in Boston and listening to Alan Watts lecture on the radio. He was talking about a concept found in Eastern religion that seems to fit today’s particular situation very well. I don’t remember the name of the concept or most of the specifics of the lecture, but I do remember the example he used very clearly. In my own words, it is this:

You are sitting in an airplane on a runway, and as the plane begins to roll toward takeoff you can’t help but think, “This airplane is way too big and heavy to fly.” As the plane picks up speed, you think, “We’re not going to make it,” and your anxiety builds. You find yourself pulling up on the arms of your seat, straining to lift the plane into the air. But it is entirely futile, isn’t it? Your muscular exertion is not going to have any effect on the situation—yet there you are, straining and filled with anxiety. And this is how we go through life most of the time. We exert our energies, physical and emotional, in ways that will have no bearing on the outcome we desire.

Every day I see what my friends post on social media, and I wonder why they can’t see that all of the anger, anxiety, outrage, sadness, and other negative emotions their content engenders are doing nothing to bring about the results they desire. We live in a world that is saturated with news. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, newspapers, magazines, television, and radio publish an endless stream of violence, mayhem, and tragedy. Is any one of us really providing a service by acting as the town crier to our friends? Is any one of us genuinely providing a needed service by repeating what we have heard when we all read, watch, and listen to mostly the same sources? Of course not. All of the outrage this generates is doing nothing to solve the problem. So what are we doing?

What we are doing is the equivalent of the “Two Minutes Hate” from George Orwell’s *1984*. When we vent our hatred, anger, and outrage on social media, we foster a sense of unity and group identity. Let’s all hate MAGA, Republicans, and every fascist who supports them! It’s us against them! It feels good to believe we’re not alone—that we’re all in this together—but is it really a positive thing if anger and outrage are what unify us?

In my opinion, whatever positive action might come from this group hate is far outweighed by the negative consequences of people becoming exhausted and overwhelmed by discouragement, depression, and anxiety. We are all pulling on the arms of the seat nonstop, and it isn’t doing anyone any good.

So what can we do? What should we do? The first thing I recommend is that we all pause and ask this question before posting: “Is this going to help in any way?” and, “Does any good this might do justify the anger and anxiety it is going to cause?” If we all just pause for a few seconds and think about these questions, then perhaps we will begin to make social media a little better—more what we want it to be, rather than what it has become: just another constant outrage machine.

I don’t pull up on the arms of the seat when the plane takes off, and I try not to give in to mob mentality or groupthink. I would not last long in the world of *1984*, because I would be spotted not joining in during the Two Minutes Hate. It’s not that I don’t believe in the effectiveness of hate and anger to unify people and spur them to action, but I believe this is what has led to the world we live in today—along with greed—and that it cannot get us to a sustainable future. I believe that love and compassion can be just as strong a force in bringing about the results we want to see. I believe this is the beginning of the revolution we must make if we want to see our civilization continue into the future.

This is the nature of the revolution that Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. gave voice to as leaders. We must be willing to work to spread love and compassion in the world, and we can’t do that by promoting hate or exhausting ourselves and our friends with constant outrage. Work tirelessly for justice. Support causes that are taking action to bring about the world you want to see. But stop perpetuating hatred. It’s exhausting.