Hate talk

Recently we have started to speak about hate talk (I don't have a clue is this the right term, it's translation from Finnish vihapuhe). There has been always hate talk in our society, but now with Internet and social media we can't pretend, that we don't see or hear it. Sometimes hate talk is plain stupid, sometimes it reaches the level, when it's dangerous and distressing. It's clear, that most of us don't approve people behaving like that, but what is not clear, is what we can do to decrease hate talk in our society?

Hate is a typical feeling for human beings. It has it's meaning, it tells something important of ourselves and of our experiences. More important is, what we choose to do after the feeling of hate has appeared. Acting in blind hate or rage rarely brings anything good. It might give some immediate rewards, like silencing everybody else, but in the long run it hurts everybody. Acting all the time directed by hate separates people, kills trust, kills love. It's a spiral, when you get deep enough, the only way out is to seek help.

Here's few questions that I think about:

What creates hate in our society?
What would help people to handle their feelings of hate?
How could people be helped to express their opinions without hate?
How could we help people to communicate in more peaceful way?

People who use hate talk, who commit crimes, who are aggressive and violent are not some separate group, they are not monsters. They are people like us, living in the same world. We tend to separate ourselves from them, but in certain conditions, we are all capable of behaving badly, sometimes even capable of committing crimes. These problem can't be solved by hating people who end up behaving badly. And I don't mean, that they shouldn't take responsibility of what they have done. Of course they should. I just challenge you to invent concrete ways to help people and to make our world less aggressive.