Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Hatred And Mercy

Without even giving up a morally unnecessary but sincere commitment to mercy (which can at most only be supererogatory), a person could still feel and actively express hatred without giving in to emotionalism.  Depending on who or what the hatred is directed towards, what the motivations are (hating irrational people as opposed to people of a certain race, for example), and how someone does or does not treat others in light of it, hatred is either a totally neutral or even morally positive thing.  Merciful or not, someone could enjoy and sink into deep hatred of certain kinds without irrationality or sin--yes, there is no contradiction in being thoroughly merciful and hateful at once.  

Mercy is not treating people with the punitive justice they deserve.  Hatred is an intense, perhaps very, very passionate dislike for something or someone.  Just like love, which is either a determination to treat someone as they deserve and thus without any injustice (either by undeserved favor or by undeserved penalty) or a personal affection, mercy does not have to exclude hatred at all.  Whatever the exact details of moral obligations are, if they exist and happen to not be the Biblical ones that are evidentially likely, there is no necessary conflict between any of these attitudes and motivations.

There is nothing but your own subjective willingness to stop you, as neither reason nor Biblical morality [1] is in conflict with this.  Stop short of malice or emotionalism, and hatred is one of the most freeing, empowering, and enjoyable things one will ever experience.  Far more than the calm that comes from peace with fools, far more than pleasures like food, masturbation, or sex, hatred of irrationality and irrationalists can provide personal empowerment derived from both knowing the truth and being the wholehearted enemy of practically anyone who incorrigibly rejects or trivializes it.

Knowing that irrationalists are like insects compared to you regardless of whether something like Christianity is true, and regardless of whether morality of any kind exists, is absolutely a basis for genuine empowerment.  Knowing that one can manipulate them like the lesser beings that they are and how to--such as by preying on their emotionalistic existential insecurities, potentially by forcing them into situations where their asinine beliefs are exposed to people who are not allies or by mocking their stupidity openly--is something that one could righteously draw excitement and eagerness from.

Simply do not hope for stupidity or sin in others so that you can have a reason to hate where it is permissible and thus experience this excitement.  This would be itself irrational and vile, the desire for there to be errors so that one could confront those who believe or hold to them in hatred.  The proper motives and context are what validate loathing.  In the right situation, though, hatred of the legitimate kind is not even something that personally harms the one who harbors it in spite of its permissibility as some insist.  To the contrary, it can be both objectively empowering and subjectively fulfilling as it burns against everyone who unrepentantly neglects reason or disregards the very notion of their emotionalistic, self-absorbed lives being in the wrong.  It does not so much as require abstinence from mercy.


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