Is there a conspiracy to make us hate our enemies?

Matthew 5;

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.


By what are we driven to hate our enemies? It seems to be normal to act like that. Is there a conspiracy? We need examples of people doing the right thing. Don't some get killed for it? This world is out of control.

It was said to love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. Ignorance? Conspiracy? What do governments promote? We, the people!!

..While the prophecy goes on.

reply to post by etherical waterwave


Showing Compassion is not the party line, water boarding is.
Not enough thinking goes into human behavior unfortunately, a failed creature we are.

It's called the war machine, it keeps the military complex going.

If this country didn't make enemies, our economy wouldn't be in the shape it's in. The trillions of dollars being spent on machines for war could be used for increased research on medical cures, infrastructure and new energy programs here at home. Hey, what novel idea!

Could be. Most people are ridiculously vengeful and in my honest opinion it goes well beyond survival instinct. For example most people believe rapists should be put to death and tortured. IMO rape, while awful, is a lot more forgivable than murder, and even murderers can be reformed. It's easy to understand why things like the Witch Trials happened in the West a mere 400 years ago and people stone others for cheating in parts of Asia today.

Isn't it kinda messed up how the supposedly morally upright people seem more full of hate than the scoundrels and criminals of the world?

Absolutely.

In WWII the haltered for the “Japs” was instilled into the minds of the American Populace, but hatred for the “Gerri’s” was not. German POW’s could walk down the street without fear that an American Citizen would do them any harm. We also rounded up and imprisoned American Citizens of Japanese decent, but did not do the same to German Nationals who lived in the United States.

Move Forward to today.

The Arab. Arab haltered is taught to the American citizen through the MSM, Political System and even through so-called Christian Churches.

Muslim is a synonymous with Arab in the United States, however the largest population of Muslim in the World are Indonesian, and you don’t see any haltered of that race.

It is just one more of the Control mechanisms TPTB use against us to keep us in bondage.

If the American Population viewed the Arab as a Human Being, same as ourselves, we would not be so willing to rape, pillage, and steal their country.

Lol,

a lot of Americans would consider Indonesians to be Arabs and Middle Easterners.

If you think this government promotes we the people, I feel sorry for you. the only thing this government promotes is we the corporation. biological, natural people are slaves designed to be financial charges to keep the western war machine running. It doesn't take a genius to realize the people get no bailout while everything related to the war is given money hand over fist.


yeah, and hate is part of it. the US was built on hate. hate the natives, hate the blacks, hate the gooks, the slant eyes, the yellow people, the brown people, the hadjis. That's why this country has been in emergency war powers act since at least ww2.

reply to post by etherical waterwave

Is there a conspiracy to make us hate our enemies?

We have been groomed to this way of thinking. Our politicians teach us that the other guys are ee-ville incarnate. So, now we hold that roughly half of our fellow citizens are our enemies.

On the flipside, 'hate' is a word that is probably the most misunderstood and abused in our language. The truth here is that most of us will never know true hate. It is the opposite of true love and if we know anything of that, it is that we often search our entire lives for it without ever finding it.

We have been led... not pushed, not shoved, but led to a place where we embrace extremism as a virtue. We no longer care to engage in debate. We must argue and insult. We don't care about any opinions except our own... and when someone else's doesn't immediately meet ours, we attack.

Yes, we are a failing species... but worse than that, we have forgotten how to even try to succeed.

Of cousre there is a conspiracy to make us hate them. It's essential.

If there wasn't, soldiers might feel bad killing them, and civilians would too.

War doesn't work without hate. And as Yoda says, hate leads to suffering.

ABSOLUTELY. This is what is considered the "propaganda" machine. Before television it was print, before that it was word of mouth, and even when someone knew that they were watching/reading/hearing something that was considered propaganda, they were slightly aware.

The difference now, is that we are surrounded by it, through every form of media (t.v/radio/internet/magazine) that you can think of, including people that are the same in many ways, but shapes/sizes/class have divided us even more.

This cannot stop, because we cannot think of ourselves as people. We have to be against one another at all times!

Peace, NRE.

Thanks for addressing this, its important these days with all the hatred that is going around lately.
S&F

I've never hated someone just because they're black, white, Asian etc.. Lumping a people together because of something that was done by person/s of that nationality is just plain stupid. But, I firmly believe in an eye for an eye. If it was an accident, no. Murderers, rapists, arsonists that caused the death of people, yes. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a good approach to living with your fellow man. But, for those who step too far outside the lines, they should always remember... Payback's a bitch.

Originally posted by DAVID64
I've never hated someone just because they're black, white, Asian etc.. Lumping a people together because of something that was done by person/s of that nationality is just plain stupid. But, I firmly believe in an eye for an eye. If it was an accident, no. Murderers, rapists, arsonists that caused the death of people, yes. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a good approach to living with your fellow man. But, for those who step too far outside the lines, they should always remember... Payback's a bitch.

I disagree. We should not shut down the opportunity to come back into the Light for people - ever. How wrong would it be if the Dark Side was more welcoming of converts than the Light Side?

If forgiveness only applies for small things, it's a pretty weak concept.

Applying 'Occam's razor' would be a reasonable starting-point.

The instinctive herd-part of the human mindset still functions pretty much on 'leaders-followers' principles. Which in the brutal competitiveness of raw nature is valuable.

But as partly self-organizing beings, we can go beyond that and search for more suitable answers. E.g. social constructs, where other principles are manifested; such as humanitarian principles.

Unfortunately some of the 'leader'-types aren't that keen on such new-fashioned ideas, but insist on the good old ways of power and self-proclaimed authority, and they use the good old-fashioned ways of achieving their goals.

No need to see any 'conspiracy' in this, and hopefully the overall perspective will eventually go beyond using one specific mythological manual as THE reference-point.

Originally posted by m1991

Originally posted by DAVID64
I've never hated someone just because they're black, white, Asian etc.. Lumping a people together because of something that was done by person/s of that nationality is just plain stupid. But, I firmly believe in an eye for an eye. If it was an accident, no. Murderers, rapists, arsonists that caused the death of people, yes. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a good approach to living with your fellow man. But, for those who step too far outside the lines, they should always remember... Payback's a bitch.

I disagree. We should not shut down the opportunity to come back into the Light for people - ever. How wrong would it be if the Dark Side was more welcoming of converts than the Light Side?

If forgiveness only applies for small things, it's a pretty weak concept.

edit on 13-8-2011 by m1991 because: (no reason given)

Maybe. But with some, turning the other cheek only gets you slapped on both sides.

Originally posted by DAVID64
I've never hated someone just because they're black, white, Asian etc.. Lumping a people together because of something that was done by person/s of that nationality is just plain stupid. But, I firmly believe in an eye for an eye. If it was an accident, no. Murderers, rapists, arsonists that caused the death of people, yes. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a good approach to living with your fellow man. But, for those who step too far outside the lines, they should always remember... Payback's a bitch.

Hypothetically this sounds nice, but however ..... what if the 'you' referred to here:

quote: ["....Do unto others as YOU would have them do unto YOU....."] (my capital letter emphasis)

belongs to a sexual minority, is a masochist, would love to have his/her 'soul' cleansed by flagellantism (possibly even through fire or other martyrdom) or is willing to die on a battlefield defending some obscure ideology.

It's not QUITE that simple, and the uncertainty in it has often been used as an excuse for: "It's for their own good".

Maybe. But with some, turning the other cheek only gets you slapped on both sides.

It's possible to forgive someone without permitting them to abuse you further.

Originally posted by m1991

Maybe. But with some, turning the other cheek only gets you slapped on both sides.

It's possible to forgive someone without permitting them to abuse you further.

As an individual attitude, yes. But sometimes it goes so far practically in social contexts, that a world war is needed to settle it. Hitler wasn't stopped by ahimsa principles (to my own personal sorrow as a pacifist).

As an individual attitude, yes. But sometimes it goes so far practically in social contexts, that a world war is needed to settle it. Hitler wasn't stopped by ahimsa principles (to my own personal sorrow as a pacifist).

edit on 13-8-2011 by bogomil because: chagrin exchanged with 'sorrow'

I think it's actually debatable whether waging WW2 or trying to bargain would have ended up saving more lives. You have to remember too, we made a deal with the devil so to speak siding with the Soviet Union, who eventually turned out to have committed a Holocaust of their own with the Gulags.

reply to post by m1991


I'm not sure why I (from the quote: ["You have to remember too, we made a deal with the devil"]) have to include any devils, metaphorical or not.

My perspective is pragmatic and is directed towards the aim of lessening general suffering. I'm not aware of any universal 'absolutes' furthering this aim except a simple growing awareness in mankind of egalitarian principles with a balance of 'freedom' and responsibility.

The black/whites of 'god's soldiers', Jihad, Hitler, Stalin, Mao etc. are orchestrated into: "With me or against me", and are not only self-serving, but also easily recognized as dysfunctional.

Taking an ahimsa-position to its limits requires completely 'unconditional' frames. Not even the Jain religion goes that far, they are 'allowed' to defend temselves. And I doubt, that mankind in general is prepared for total 'unconditional' frames. It's eventually a question of step-by-step diplomacy and compromises.

We're pretty much still talking monkeys, and puristic idealism is some distance away.

Originally posted by bogomil
reply to post by m1991

 

I'm not sure why I (from the quote: ["You have to remember too, we made a deal with the devil"]) have to include any devils, metaphorical or not.

My perspective is pragmatic and is directed towards the aim of lessening general suffering. I'm not aware of any universal 'absolutes' furthering this aim except a simple growing awareness in mankind of egalitarian principles with a balance of 'freedom' and responsibility.

The black/whites of 'god's soldiers', Jihad, Hitler, Stalin, Mao etc. are orchestrated into: "With me or against me", and are not only self-serving, but also easily recognized as dysfunctional.

Taking an ahimsa-position to its limits requires completely 'unconditional' frames. Not even the Jain religion goes that far, they are 'allowed' to defend temselves. And I doubt, that mankind in general is prepared for total 'unconditional' frames. It's eventually a question of step-by-step diplomacy and compromises.

We're pretty much still talking monkeys, and puristic idealism is some distance away.

edit on 13-8-2011 by bogomil because: spelling

I agree that violence is not entirely avoidable, however I think that violence in self-defense or for the 'greater good' has a negative karmic value and thus should always be used only as an extreme last resort. I didn't really mean the Soviets were 'demonic' I was more just speaking metaphorically that in dealing with them, we were aiding a different Holocaust, so the idea that WW2 was justified on the notion it saved Jewish people and others is not so set in stone partially for that reason.

I do think unconditional love is possible though, and actually exists. You see much anecdotal evidence of unconditional love within families even in imperfect human beings.