The Problem of Hate In American Culture

In America, hate has become a prevalent force in our culture. Every day, you hear about shootings, hate crimes, and other heinous acts that destruct our society and nation as a whole. Why is this such an issue, and why is it more prevalent than ever? In 2018, statistics showed that 80% of our country was “’mainly’ or ‘totally’ divided” (Chinni & Bronston, 2018). While is flooding our street like an open sewer, our country has always been somewhat divided, and it all goes back to ideologies.

Dating back to 1796 when the first political parties were formed, division was also formed (ushistory.org, 2019). Anti-Federalists ad Federalists were in much opposition in how the country should be run, and they believed that the easiest way to solve it was creating two separate “factions” (Naegeli, 2018). These parties would give rise to the two parties we have today- Democrats and Republicans (Naegeli, 2019). Not everyone believed in the idea of political parties; George Washington warned against the issues that could arise by forming political parties (Pruitt, 2018). George Washington stated in his farewell address: “The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.” (Pruitt, 2018). Even today, we see that this is a prevalent issue, but instead of the issue being just how involved our government should be it is now ideologies that split us apart. Next, the prevalent issue splitting America was segregation. We were no longer just opposing party but also in ideology. The North and South were in total opposition, and the driving forces that were at the forefront were states’ rights and slavery (Pierce, 2018).

I am a firm believer that if you aren’t spreading love you are spreading hate, and the direct split between the North and South did nothing just that. With divide and cause friction between them. With division comes friction, and with friction comes strife. The Civil War was one of the costliest and deadliest wars fought on American Soil (ushistory.com Editors, 2009). Lastly, in today’s society, hate is rampant in our world. Family is turned on family because of political stance, and religion is something that shouldn’t be spoken of in public. Why is this? I believe one reason is that we are fed the lie that because someone doesn’t agree with you, they hate you. Many times we are fed this idea by media and social networking apps. In social media, we tend to see ads that pertain to us and what we talk about and say. Most of the time it is either going to be far-left or far-right news articles when it comes to political ads. This causes people to see the most radical sides of both sides when many democrats and republicans do not think or act to that extreme. The same goes for the news. Many times, news channels can be extremely biased by only showing you what they want us to see- the great side of their party and the worst of the opposing.

To solve this issue, I believe we must truly become unbiased and have an open mind to how and why the “other side” thinks and acts. We shouldn’t hate the other side for not thinking like us, but instead, appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of who we are as American people. Our country is a country of immigrants, and we should celebrate that fact. We should have an open ear to what others have to say and respect each other and their opinions. We should let love prevail and choose to spread it to everyone we come in contact with.

References

1. Chinni, D., & Bronston, S. (2018, October 21). Americans are divided over everything except division. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/americans-are-divided-over-everything-except-division-n922511.
2. History.com Editors. (2009, October 15). Civil War. Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history.
3. Naegeli, P. (2018). The History of Political Parties in the United States. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_34_26.html.
4. Pierce, J. (2018, April 23). The Reasons for Secession. Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/reasons-secession.
5. Pruitt, S. (2018, November 6). The Founding Fathers Feared Political Factions Would Tear the Nation Apart. Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://www.history.com/news/founding-fathers-political-parties-opinion.
6. ushistory.org. (2019). Political Parties. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from http://www.ushistory.org/gov/5a.asp.