People aren’t always honest with this question, even with themselves. A better way to ask is “What do you hate?”
We only ever hate things that we’re scared of. We never hate things that excite us. Those are the things we love. So, if you really want to know what things you’re scared of, ask yourself what you hate.
The logic is impossible to argue with. Racists hate people with different skin because they”re scared of them. Misogynists hate women because they’re scared of them. Homophobes hate gay people because they’re scared of them.
Those haters are the minority, but we all have our own odd little fears. And politicians know they can tap into these fears to distract us from seeing the full picture. They can twist our fears and direct them against others who they think are weaker than us. But they’re simply convenient substitutes for the real fears.
For example, politicians will tell us that immigrants taking jobs and government welfare is what is making us poor. We’re encouraged to fear immigrants, even being told immigrants are different or more lawless.
But our real fear isn’t immigrants. Our fear is failure. Failure to support our loved ones and ourselves. Failure to house, feed, clothe and keep them safe.
But even that’s not the root fear. No, the root fear for all of us is the fear that we’re responsible for our own failure.
That’s why attacking minorities is so effective, because they become responsible for our failure. It removes the fear that we’re to blame and moves it to a weaker group instead. So we can hate them for making us fail.
Of course, the big irony is that failure for most of us comes from not being able to earn enough to pay for all our responsibilities. And the wealthy could help with this, if they really cared.
In the US, the wealthiest 10% of Americans have hoarded 68% of the nation’s wealth, while the poorest 50% struggle with just 2.5% between them.
The wealthy have more than they need and could remove the fear of failure from the majority just by sharing some of their excess wealth. Since 1989, the wealthiest 1% alone have captured an extra 8.9% of America’s wealth, while the poorest 50% have lost 1%. If that full 9.9% had gone to the poorest 50%, they’d each be $100,701 better off today.
The greed of the wealthy is causing the poor to fail. But, the wealthy stoke fear and hatred of minorities and pretend that the blame lies with them instead.
What do you hate more: failing or being lied to about why you’re failing?
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