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Why We Shouldn’t Hate Evil People
Feeling Sorry For Bad People is the Way
You may think that we should hate someone like Joseph Stalin, or Mao. You may think that we should all hate that bully in high school. To throw in some fiction, you may think that we should hate Voldemort (yes, I said his name), Darth Vader, or the Underground Man (from Dostoevsky’s masterpiece Notes from Underground).
“When angels go bad they are worse than anyone else. Remember Lucifer used to be an angel.”
― Neil Gaiman
All of these people — real and fictional alike — have done terrible things and have caused much suffering in the world. And that can make you want to hate them.
We All Fundamentally Want to Flourish
However, if we assume that everyone fundamentally wants to flourish, then it must be the case that these people that are spreading destruction simply don’t know any better. Joseph Stalin and Mao — these people had no one, not a single person, that they trusted.
