Are people who use the word "Haters" really intolerant and prejudiced?

I have noticed a trend recently in the mainstream media. The word "Haters" in headlines is becoming quite popular.

When you read the article with the word "Hater" in it, one finds that "Haters" means someone who disagrees with me or disagrees with the Obama/Progressive/Liberal line. It has nearly become synonymous with people who have traditional american values and ideas, and using the word implies that traditional american values are to be despised and feared.

What I have come to realize is that the people using this word can not - or refuse to - even think about tolerating people with views or ideas that disagree with their own.

Using this word, the way it is used in the mainstream media and the popular headlines, also implies that anyone who differs with me has to be a "hater", which is an extremely prejudiced view.

The word "hater" to me has become like the word "n....." or "cra....", an ugly description of someone you don't like based on one thing you don't like about them that is superficial, like an opinion, any opinion that is not "acceptable" according to liberals/progressives.

FYI: I do not hate liberals, progressives or even Obama supporters. I love a good political discussion and can respect people who disagree with me. There are some very nice people who disagree with my political views. Just disagreeing with someone's view does not automatically make the other person a "hater" or "evil", as is implied with the use of this word.

It's shorthand for "disregard those who disagree with me, and trust me YOU don't want to be on their side of the argument either." (After all, in today's culture being seen as a hater or intolerant is considered the lowest of the lows.) It's pretty lazy move, really, in terms of debate strategies. Unfortunately, a lot of people fall for it.

I haven't seen it being used in media headlines, but I guess I'm not surprised. There was a time (10 or 15 years ago) you mostly heard the phrase "don't hate" on the Maury Povich show (usually said to a booing audience by a guest who had cheated on a spouse or some such thing). But I hear that phrase, and the term "haters", on a more regular basis now.

*sigh*

Good rant.

reply to post by VegHead


I have seen it in headlines twice today, once in Time magazine. So it is becoming a very mainstream word to use in headlines. So sad. I recall seeing it off and on in the past, but now the use of the word is becoming more commonplace.

The way it is used is so ugly, so intolerant, so divisive, and so self-absorbed.

ANY time I hear the term "Haters" I can only think of Dave Chappelle doing the Player Haters and Time Haters. The characters absolutely describe what a person who calls others "Haters" actually is. Its like some sick psychological Freudian projection thing. LOL!!

Nothing more than a vague, generalization cope-out term, used by the un-intelligent. Meaningful conversation should be kept to a minimum with people who like to use this term. Red flag for the idiot alert.

Perhaps it's a geographical prejudice.

I am in the UK where the word ''haters'' doesn't have political associations. It's used to denote people that hate certain things, perhaps topic specific.

On ATS many times, I have been followed by the same posters in whichever thread I post, making straw man arguments and being rude, probably because I disagreed their post somewhen before, I referred to them in a recent post as ''haters hating on me''.

The same geographical word prejudice seems relevant to ''truthers''. Again I am in the UK and to me 'truth' means the truth and isn't tainted by a political slant.

Perhaps my screen name has caused a lot of comments from US posters aimed at me because of this, I certainly have endured a lot of accusations along the lines of being an Alex Jones devotee. I didn't know anything about Alex Jones nor subscribe to any of his channels of information.

I also gather in the US, the word 'truthers' is affiliated to 911. I have my own opinions on that event but again, I don't subscribe to any particular person or groups specific movement on it.

That said the media has a lot to answer for in the dumbing down and categorising people, mostly those that aren't particularly intellectual and get their prejudices from the media instead of learning about things and questioning things they hear that are put out there with no evidence or from spurious sources.

It seems a divided society is more easily conquered, whereas a cohesive society all on the same page with Utopian ideals is more of a force to be reckoned with.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


I apologize to those of you outside the US who don't have the type of media we do in the US, one that is absolutely convinced that they are superior to flyover (people who don't live on either coast) americans and think they know what is best for everyone else; (as long as the standards do not apply to themselves, i.e. the vast # who put down 1%er's are in fact 1%er's themselves - defined as those who are wealthier than 99% of the American population - net worth over $2mil).

Yes, in the US, the word "hater" has evolved to mean those who believe in traditional values, morals, and behavior, more specifically to Christians and conservatives.

Yes the word "truther" in the US refers to people who believe 9/11 is a conspiracy.

"Birther" means those who question Obama's place of birth.

Words do evolve, for example, gay used to mean happy.

reply to post by grandmakdw


Those are fundamental words, Truth, Hate and Birth and should never have been hijacked by the media for negative word association.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


Welcome to the world described in Orwell's 1984, we are very close to being fully there, especially in the US.

Word meanings are twisted to twist thoughts in desired directions.

One can not be outdoors for more than 150 feet on average in the US without being on a camera (bank/security/traffic light/home systems)

All phone numbers one dial's anywhere in the US are stored by the US government.

All emails written are stored "as is" by the US government

The US government has a "right" to touch your private parts invasively for no real reason other than you wish to get on an airplane.

Televisions are being developed to "watch" you in your home and what you choose to watch on TV.

Facial recognition software will soon be in every retail establishment in America.

The media's references to Obama as the messiah.

Yes, be very careful of believing the American media, I find Pravada to be more unbiased these days, how ironic.

Hi All,
Not sure where you guys are from but the term "hater" is an urban term. I'm from NYC, I live in South Florida now and I've been a hip hop head for the last 30 years, so I know the exactly how this term was originally used.

I honestly do not watch the news, especially if it's political but I know enough that the media uses terms, such as "haters" just to place a label on people and then group them together. This same process has been used so much that the regular person uses them when the refer to people by (labels) birther, truther and so on. So the issue isn't the term, its the thought that all those people are the same because they have one belief.

So to school the rest of you, this is how its supposed to be used....

--Hey Mike, look at my new sneakers. Jim responds, they are ugly and too bright. Mike would then call Jim a hater because Jim
is hating the sneakers.

--Hey Jill, look at this picture of my new boyfriend. Amy responds, ewww. He's so short and why does he have so many pimples.

Jim is a hater because he is hating the sneakers but that type of hating isn't that serious. It can be said playing around. Now with Amy, it's a little different because its get a little more personal. Amy could be supportive and happy for Jill but instead she's knocking the boyfriend, i.e. "hating".

reply to post by pterblade


I see where you are coming from. However, the term has evolved like many terms evolve.

The media is not using it in the urban slang way, they have politicized the word.

Much like the "correct" usage of the word "gay" is He is a very gay fellow; meaning he is happy and full of life, not homosexual. However, that is no longer how the word is used, it has evolved.

Many urban slang words are taken by mainstream society which then alter the original meaning.

That is why we can no longer understand Elizabethan (Shakespearean) English, because language evolves and changes, actually quite rapidly.

Thank you for the history lesson on the original urban use of the word.