Is hate a weapon we can use to deal with the people we don’t like?

Hate isn’t a weapon. It’s an emotion. It’s an outgrowth of anger and it’s part of our emotional toolkit for a reason. It helps us know when there is a problem that needs to be fixed because bad things are occurring.

Don't be afraid to let go of your anger

Using hate as a weapon, is not generally a good way to actually solve the problem that needs fixing though. It’s just a signal that we need to fix something. It’s much better to use strategic thinking and compassionate thinking to actual fix the problem that anger has identified.

Anyone who has ever served in the army will tell you – the angry hot head – the person who hates, is a danger to the group because they tend to act rashly instead of strategically. It is for this reason that hate – as a weapon – is counterproductive.

Yoda (from Star Wars) said, Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

What mature people do – is they recognize that under the hate is anger. And under the anger is fear. And they focus on fixing the thing they are afraid of. Not on hating the people they view to be the cause of the thing they fear. This tends to yield better results that acting out on hate.

There are very few instances of hate based decision making ending well for the hater. So while it is entirely possible to use hate as a weapon to deal with people you don’t like. It’s not likely to fix the underlying problem which will remain.

Instead, the suggestion from pretty much every major philosopher throughout history is to acknowledge the fear underlying the emotions of anger and hate and use those emotions as a motivation to take action, but to actually approach to the problem solving in a rational and compassionate way.