Standing Up Against Hate: Let’s Be Foolish

New Africa/AdobeStock

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

One way of psychiatrically interpreting all the current intense political divisiveness and conflicts, including war, is that hatred of the other is involved. Hatred is complex, but at its basis includes intense dislike of the other.¹ It is a natural tendency of human beings toward those we fear or dislike because they are different and feel threatening. A quest for power over those who are different ensues. That sort of negative othering can also be due to jealously of the success of the other.

If we want to be more community and national activists against such hatred, there are some recommendations, some of which may seem counterintuitive to the public and hence underused. Such activism toward producing more mentally healthy communities is indeed an ethical priority of the American Psychiatric Association. In addition, it is a priority adopted by the American Medical Association House of Delegates back on December 4, 2001. The Declaration of Professional Responsibility oath declares that “the duties the Declaration imposes transcend physician roles and specialties, professional associations, geographic boundaries, and political divides.” That means all of us physicians, and perhaps by extension, any mental health care professional. One of these duties is:

“Educate the public and polity about the present and future threats to the health of humanity.”

Strategies should include what is not helpful. There is general agreement that silence in the face of everyday hate is not helpful. Elie Wiesel, the renowned survivor and conscience of the Holocaust, taught us that. He pointed out that silence and indifference help the perpetrators of undue hatred because they unwittingly condones it. Although the Beatles sang “All You Need is Love,” Wiesel taught us that love is not enough, that love is not the opposite of hate. We know from our clinical and community work that the most intense, volatile, and recalcitrant hatred can come out of the closest relationships, such as intimate couples and families.

Consequently, standing up to inappropriate hate has become a popular stance against hatreds. But a bit of caution is in order. It can feel good to stand up to the bad, but ineffective. How do you successfully stand up without being knocked down, ignored, or making things worse? Moreover, and common among some groups of people, we have internal disagreements, which often must be resolved or ignored in order to present a united front, otherwise haters and enemies can use the divide and conquer strategy. And basically, we must remember that sometimes hate is appropriate and deserved, perhaps like my hatred of Hitler as an obvious example.

There are known ways to open people’s minds toward new ways of thinking and reacting in everyday life in addition to what may occur from psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. It is not through protests, hostile arguments, or shaming the other. Contempt of the other is the worse. It breaks up relationships, like in marriage. Best is through curiosity and respectful conversations. Otherwise, what we call confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance can come into play, leading to values and ideas becoming even more embraced—the opposite of what is desired. If humiliation is involved, backlash and revenge of some sort is not unusual. As another participant exclaimed in a recent intercultural meeting: “I had to learn not to call out in anger, but healthily.”

In other words, we need to be more upstanders than bystanders. Another term for upstanders is everyday heroes. Although some individuals are more naturally upstanders and everyday heroes, it can also be taught and imagined, such as by the Heroic Imagination Project. Imagining and practicing how one might respond to threatening hatred can help prepare one to respond helpfully.

Because standing up to hatred can also be dangerous, especially if live, it is important to assess the situation, and to have adequate security nearby or called if seems necessary and practically possible. Being part of a likeminded and supportive group can be supportive in its own right and reduce the danger. Social media is a different sort of challenge, especially due to the anonymity used and the manipulation that is available. Careful consideration of what to post where is essential.

Besides these sorts of opportunities with strangers or acquaintances, corrective emotional experiences can help change the most hateful anti-Semites. That means slowly developing a positive relationship that counters the haters assumptions. Perhaps you have had that experience in clinical psychotherapy. Once that trust is established, education can be accepted more easily, including for those who have been trapped by cultish and conspiracy thinking. If worse comes to worse, formal interventions like anger management or even incarceration for hate crimes become necessary. Some in the public take underground micro doses of psychedelics.

Prevention is actually the best way to stand up to hate because it reduces the occurrence of undue hatred in the first place. Needed are empathic parents and teachers who instill within children an acceptance of those who are different in normal ways. Adults who identify with all people are also less likely to hate. I am a Jewish American Earthling! Finally, societal opportunities for self-actualization reduces the likelihood of blaming others for the shortcomings we all have. Clearly, we humans can do better.

Today is April Fool’s Day. In Shakespeare’s plays, the fools were usually the wisest characters. In King Lear, the fool served as his conscience, telling Lear that he gave power to the wrong daughters. Perhaps we can ask our colleagues and the public, as I tried to do yesterday’s column in regard to the resignation of Dr Marks from the US Food and Drug Administration, on whether the wrong individuals have been given power now. Let’s be such wise fools today and thereafter.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

Reference

1. Sternberg R, Sternberg K. The Nature of Hate. Cambridge University Press; 2008.