Letter: The anatomy of hate

Published: 05-13-2025 11:27 AM

Hate is not innate — it is taught, cultivated, and weaponized. And once unleashed, it consumes everything in its path.

Hate is lethal. It has fueled genocides, destroyed nations, and erased entire populations.

What was Hitler’s secret to power? He sewed hate. He targeted Jews as scapegoats, poisoning public sentiment. He instilled fear. Through the SS, the stormtroopers and mass arrests under the guise of “protective custody” — Schutzhaft — he crushed opposition.

Read “In the Garden of Beasts” by Erik Larson. It offers a chilling, first-hand account from the U.S. ambassador to Germany during Hitler’s rise between 1933 and 1936. He witnessed, step by step, the descent into madness — the erosion of democracy and the empowerment of tyranny.

I saw echoes of that fanaticism on Saturday, April 5; as the Hands Off protesters stood peacefully, MAGA supporters drove by, snarling with rage — unprovoked, irrational, seething. Across 1,300 protests nationwide -- zero participant arrests. Contrast that with the “peaceful love fest” of Jan. 6, 2021 — an event drenched in death, violence and hate.

Yes, hate did that. And hate is doing it again.

Read the book. Open your eyes. History is not just repeating — it's knocking at the door.

And if we don’t learn, we will live it again.

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