[Vision2020] Hate studies

[Kenneth Marcy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_re_us/us_fea_lifestyles_hate_studies 

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer Nicholas K. Geranios, 
Associated Press Writer   – Wed Nov 18, 7:57 pm ET

SPOKANE, Wash. – Why did the Nazis hate the Jews? Why did the Hutus 
hate the Tutsis?

Hate is everywhere, but the fundamental question of why one person can 
hate another has never been adequately studied, contends Jim Mohr of 
Gonzaga University, who is developing a new academic field of hate 
studies.

The goal is to explain a condition that has plagued humanity since one 
caveman looked askance at another.

"What makes hate tick?" Mohr, director of Gonzaga's Institute for 
Action Against Hate, wondered. "How can we stop it?"

Gonzaga founded the institute a decade ago after some black law 
students received threatening letters. It has since started a Journal 
of Hate Studies, hosted a conference and offered its first class on 
hatred last spring.

The hope is that other universities will follow suit, said Ken Stern 
of the American Jewish Committee in New York, who has been involved 
in the effort. "We wanted to approach hate more intelligently," he 
said.

Stern, who has spent 20 years battling anti-Semitism, said the need 
for hate studies became obvious when people started fighting groups 
like the Aryan Nations, which once flourished in this area. Opponents 
galvanized against the Aryans, but didn't really know how best to 
fight them, Stern said.

"We were flying by the seat of our pants," he said. "There was no 
testable theory."

There is not even a good definition of hate, Stern contends.

Philosophers have offered numerous definitions: Rene Descartes said 
hate was the urge to withdraw from something that is thought bad. 
Aristotle saw hate as the incurable desire to annihilate an object.

In psychology, Sigmund Freud defined hate as an ego state that wishes 
to destroy the source of its unhappiness.

Gonzaga, a Jesuit university best known for its basketball team, 
offered a class on the subject taught by five professors from 
different disciplines.

Student Kayla De Los Reyes was in that class, and said the information 
both horrified her and gave her hope.

"Hate is something that is part of the human emotional makeup," she 
said. "Everyone feels it at one point or another. You have to learn 
to control it."

The goal is to create an academic home where a variety of disciplines, 
including history, psychology, religious studies, anthropology and 
political science, can be brought together to focus on hate. It's the 
same sort of effort that led to the creation of disciplines like 
black studies or women's studies, Mohr said.

Such academic efforts are not without controversy. Some skeptics fear 
they are little more than attacks on the dominant power structure.

"This stuff tends to be one dimensional and presumes the guilt of an 
archetypal white male," said Glenn Ricketts, spokesman for the 
National Association of Scholars.

Indeed, De Los Reyes said one of the more interesting topics in the 
class involved white privilege. The most recent Journal of Hate 
Studies contained articles about oppression of gays, Nazi experiments 
on Jews, the local battle against Aryan Nations, and Muslim support 
for suicide bombings.

Heather Veeder, a graduate assistant for the institute, said the 
organization has an important mission.

"Hate thrives in areas not illuminated by education," she said.

But Stern said it is too easy to blame ignorance for hate. People can 
have plenty of knowledge about something and still hate it, he said. 
The problem is when one person or group can separate another person 
or group from their humanity, thinking of them as an "other," Stern 
said.

"We dehumanize them and justify violence against them," Stern said.

There is no simple answer to why people hate, Mohr said. Hate can be 
sparked by greed, or fear, or a tribe bonding together in opposition 
to another. People looking to belong will hate others to fit into a 
group, he said.

With all the political conflict in the United States, it can seem that 
hate is on the rise. Some people seem to hate President Obama. Some 
hate Muslims. Some hate homosexuals.

But Mohr said he wouldn't pursue a field of hate studies if he didn't 
think something positive could be achieved.

"We can change," Mohr said. "There has to be hope."