Hatred is destructive of a person’s wisdom and conscience that can poison a nation’s spirit. Do you agree with this view? Justify your answer. (UPSC IAS Mains 2020 General Studies Paper – 4)
Hatred is a strong negative emotion or extreme emotional dislike that can drive oneself to extreme behaviors such as violence, murder, and war. It is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and a nation’s spirit. In the contemporary world, religious violence, communal polarization and intolerance have increased and it is a continuous obstacle in the progress and growth of a country.
One of the characteristics of hatred is the need to devalue the victim more and more. At the end, the object of the hatred loses all moral or human consideration in the eyes of the hater. Hatred severely destructs person’s wisdom and conscience as:
- Hatred produces energy for destructive power and the fission that ignites the explosion, which is driven by the intense hostility, fear, anger or sense of injury one feels.
- Hatred reduces an individual’s quality of making good judgements or having good experience and knowledge.
- It further reduces an individual’s quality of being wise.
Hatred may also lead to:
- Deprivation of Amenities: Victims of intolerance are found to be deprived of facilities and opportunities, thus excluding them from contributing to the overall development of the society and subsequently lose out on self-development too.
- Curbing of Individual Freedom: Any form of illogical intolerance often leads to taking away individual freedom and rights. Constructive criticism and debates over various aspects are absent and dominance of one ideology takes over. Any society plagued by this halts the overall growth and progress of the collective.
- Destruction of Social Harmony: Due to the communal intimidation and hatred being spread, the very fabric of a society is being diminished in the larger sense, rendering a weak and divided social strength. For example: Assimilation with accommodation, stable patterns of pluralism, inequality and integration etc. constitute the basic fabric of Indian society, which when tainted with communal intolerance get divided and internally threatened.
- Economy: Disturbances caused due to communal intolerance largely impact the local economy due to the disruptive activities like strikes, riots, destruction of public property, etc. against each other, and also disturb the macro-economic outlook of countries on the global sphere as a result of the apprehensions of investors or economic giants of a good work environment.
- Political Instability: At times massive such clashes result in political blame game, interference, and unnecessary measures, projecting an unstable political atmosphere. Welfare of the nation is mainly side-lined, and the representatives are caught in inconsequential issues.
Hatred is a negative emotion and that is irrational and subjective. When hatred becomes all-pervasive in a society it can destroy a nation’s spirit and could further hurt social capital and cooperation among citizens. This can be explained as to how the hatred of Hitler for Jews led to the corruption of many German citizens which had devastating effects on the German nation and its conscience. Therefore, hatred is indeed a serious threat to a person’s wisdom, wellbeing, and national prosperity.
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