Nowadays we see hate employed as a political tool, as a way to motivate voters and supporters to do a politician's bidding. Hate is a powerful emotion, and if you can get people hating, you can get them to do almost anything. (Plenty of examples here.) And all too often, the political language today is employed to fire up this very useful emotion. "FAGS in your son's PANTS!" is a headline I remember from this very forum not too long ago. And recently a poster here has used similar tactics; "globohomos" was in the title of a recent post.
When Schwarzenegger ran the first time I didn't vote for him because I thought he'd be like a bull in a china shop. And he was, at first. But much to my surprise he learned from his mistakes and actually took responsibility for them, a rare trait in politics. I voted for him the second time around, because a politician who can admit his mistakes is a promising politician indeed.
He recently gave a speech and I thought part of it was very relevant for today's political environment:
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Some of them joined . . .because they were filled with hate. Some of them joined because they thought they deserved more out of life. And they bought into the idea that the only way to make their lives better was to make other lives worse. Some of them joined because they were frustrated with the government, and some of them just joined because everyone else was doing it.
In the end, it didn't really matter why they joined. They were all broken in the same way. That's the bottom line here. I mean, if you find yourself at the crossroads, wondering if that path of hate might make sense to you for one reason or the other, or even wrapping yourself with the flag of hate, I want you to know where that path ends.
I want you to see very clearly in front of you, in your minds. Because throughout history, hate is always been the easy path, the path of least resistance. It's easy to find a scapegoat for a problem than to try to make things better ourselves. Right? But let me be clear. You will not find success in the end of this rope.
You will not find fulfillment or happiness because hate burns fast and bright. It might make you feel empowered for a while, but eventually consumes whatever vessel it fuels. It breaks you. It's the path of the weak. And that's why there has never been a successful movement based on hate.
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