This is really something that I have not really understood my entire life, but, increasingly, I have begun to understand where it arose from.
When I was growing up, "love" offenses (i.e., public displays of affection) were treated much harsher than "hate" offenses (i.e, fighting). Of course, it took a few school shootings to finally change that course, but it ultimately brings me to my question:
Why do we fear love?
I have only to look at the nature of right-wing religion in America to wonder what went wrong. Devoutly Christian, anti-sex, pro-gun, pro-death penalty. After September 11th, I was shocked to hear the calls for war, coming from otherwise respected Christian "family" organizations. Most certainly, I will admit that this is a generalization, and I don't believe that all right-wing religious are necessarily this way, but there is enough of a contingent that this question can be posed.
The only thing I can really think of to answer this question of mine is to recall back to medieval Christian tradition, which was suspicious of any form of pleasure, not to mention disdainful of any display of emotion. This sentiment gets recalled during the 1690s, with the height of the Puritans in America, and then rehashed yet again with the arrival of Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, who successfully turned the world forever perverted.
Do we distrust love, because we fear an ulterior motive? Do we trust hate, because we know what it is when we see it? Kind of a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality? Do we see love as "weakness" and hate as "strength"?
Melon
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"Still, I never understood the elevation of greed as a political credo. Why would anyone want to base a political programme on bottomless dissatisfaction and the impossibility of happiness? Perhaps that was its appeal: the promise of luxury that in fact promoted endless work." - Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy
When I was growing up, "love" offenses (i.e., public displays of affection) were treated much harsher than "hate" offenses (i.e, fighting). Of course, it took a few school shootings to finally change that course, but it ultimately brings me to my question:
Why do we fear love?
I have only to look at the nature of right-wing religion in America to wonder what went wrong. Devoutly Christian, anti-sex, pro-gun, pro-death penalty. After September 11th, I was shocked to hear the calls for war, coming from otherwise respected Christian "family" organizations. Most certainly, I will admit that this is a generalization, and I don't believe that all right-wing religious are necessarily this way, but there is enough of a contingent that this question can be posed.
The only thing I can really think of to answer this question of mine is to recall back to medieval Christian tradition, which was suspicious of any form of pleasure, not to mention disdainful of any display of emotion. This sentiment gets recalled during the 1690s, with the height of the Puritans in America, and then rehashed yet again with the arrival of Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, who successfully turned the world forever perverted.
Do we distrust love, because we fear an ulterior motive? Do we trust hate, because we know what it is when we see it? Kind of a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality? Do we see love as "weakness" and hate as "strength"?
Melon
------------------
"Still, I never understood the elevation of greed as a political credo. Why would anyone want to base a political programme on bottomless dissatisfaction and the impossibility of happiness? Perhaps that was its appeal: the promise of luxury that in fact promoted endless work." - Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy