All behavior is goal directed in one form or another. That is true whether or not behavior is rational or is not rational. The spreading of rumors to create the hate narrative has a goal even though we might not see that initially or see it hidden in the interwoven narrative. While some of those goals may be emotional there are other aspects of that goal that may be entirely malicious. There are differences between complaining versus creating an intentional hate narrative. Likewise, there are also psychological effects of those who push the hate narrative and the victims who are targeted. In this blog post we will discuss the goals of hate.
The Goal (s) of Hate:
Let us think about all the reasons why someone would make up a story about someone else and/or a group and then push that story as a call to action . I'm sure you can think of many. When people are upset they can sometimes make up a story to help themselves fell better through punishing those who made them feel lower (i.e. keep in mind the concept of feel/feelings as an internal driven event versus an externally generated event. Another person can't make you feel anything unless it was there already. Sometimes those feelings are valid and sometimes they are not valid but the way we respond to them defines us.) Usually they complain to a few friends and that is the end of that. Its normal to feel a little jaded when things don't go your way but one should do so truthfully to create the most beneficial outcomes possible. In this scenario the goal is deflection of uncomfortable feelings
You might also meet someone really toxic who tries to spread as many rumors as they can in order to harm someone else (or group or family). These reputation attacks are often designed to isolate and diminish the targets in some way that could lead to contextual dangers. It happens in small towns a lot because reputation is everything. This becomes especially more true if someone feels they have something juicy to spread their false beliefs as facts (I don't believe in facts but just most plausible outcomes based on the data provided.). There will be manipulation, leaving out information, switching things around, projection of feelings, etc. to create that "narrative". In my experience they talk to everyone who will listen in order to spread the toxic viewpoints as false justification for bad/criminal behaviors.
The goal in this case becomes more sinister because not only do they want to deflect uncomfortable feelings they do so in a way to lower value through reputation damaging stories, create barriers between people/communities, and seek to damage the other person as much as possible. In my experience, people like this almost never have the story right and the narrative they create is designed to control, manipulate and/or harm others. They may be completely at fault but they don't really care because truth is a social reality. We have all met a few people like this and generally we stay away.
If these toxic behaviors set off a bigger chain of events then we have an issue. That becomes doubly so if they intentionally manipulated information in order to isolate and harm the victim(s). That could include encouraging people to be aggressive, lie about, ostracize, pick fights, show anger, and all the ways in which someone with dark triad traits would seek to create leverage. It moves beyond just bad behavior but could be very dangerous because one does not know the end result of such unleashed venom. Triply so if they have a lot of open ear friend network/clan unhappy with life or percolating jealousies.
A couple of studies to look at:
1. Hate is found in up to 25% of speech in many cases in college. It could be an indication of hate as a tool. I wonder if it is found more hate in older people? The young, except the radicalized young, seem to be much more open minded when compared to generations of the past. Something to look at in the future. Prevalence and Psychological Effects of Hateful Speech in Online College Communities
2. In this study we find that hate lowers certain neural functions that in turn reduce empathy taking among groups and in turn the inability to see the targets as worthy of fair treatment. Think about this one for a second. If you can triangulate a group to involve themselves through speech alone you can get them to act on targets (i.e. the slogan yelled at the Capital Riots was "Hang Pence". People acted on that and had no idea what they were talking about or the other factors or facts. I think they would have did it in hindsight. ). Exposure to hate speech deteriorates neurocognitive mechanisms of the ability to understand others’ pain
3. The UN has a discussion common targets of hate speech and the increase in trends. 'Targets of Hate'
4. The University of Sussex offers some of the motivations of hate and how there can be a number of factors that create motivation. 'Causes and Motivations of Hate'
5. It is also possible that when hate speech starts to increase, it can impact the amount of hate crimes in an area. The study by Cornell found that the amount of hate oriented speech on twitter was associated with the amount of hate crimes in that city (It wouldn't be a cause most likely, it would be a symptom). Race, Ethnicity and National Origin-based Discrimination in Social Media and Hate Crimes Across 100 U.S. Cities
What we find by looking at such situations is that hate speech has a goal and often that is to control, diminish others so as to raise or protect one's own status. The goal and the ability of the person to manipulate their environment is inherently of concern. When these intentional stories are spread it can be very difficult to minimize and that is why they are used in hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, and other power over events that have turned out to be atrocities later. As the narrative morphs through official and unofficial positions/channels it creates a backdrop for future hate as a social expectation (Unless one ensures that it isn't allowed so as to avoid future coordinated hate. That is called accountability. This is why integrity of legal systems and law enforcement is necessary.).
It does say something about the strength of some of these institutions and whether they are more concerned about official functions or shadow functions such as groups, race, ethnicity, friends, etc. There are slightly different goals for each department governance levels and as one expands outwards the needs of the local social group become of less concern as objectives become different. Taking people out of their groups often helps them see different perspectives. In clan based networks, they share a sense of world view and that can be socially distorting if not challenged (There are many different types of victims of this behavior. Kind of why I'm writing this now. So I challenge and I challenge and push against the speeding train that may someday run out of track.)
When systems treat each other fairly and universally they will come out on top as trusted entities. When certain crimes are allowed to happen in an effort to maintain ones group/clan status, superiority of religion or race, or simply because one holds false views of others and/or the power to enforce the false beliefs then we have an issue. These types of behaviors occurred at different times in history, so we also should be watchful of these things happening again. That is why we should always be diligent and on watch.
There is a threshold that should not be crossed with words and actions. That becomes increasingly possible when the wrong narratives are created to lower social inhibitions of aggressive behaviors. This is probably why we need a better understanding of how mental health leads to hate in groups.
P.S. I think we can maybe discuss the type of people who believe, act, and spread such ideas and their quality of character and personal identity issues.
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