I enjoyed Andrew Sullivan's article on hate a great deal and agreed with much of what he said until I came to this passage towards the end:
"For hate is only foiled not when the haters are punished but when the hated are immune to the bigot's power. A hater cannot psychologically wound if a victim cannot psychologically be wounded. And that immunity to hurt can never be given; it can merely be achieved."
What frustrated me about this statement was its seeming disregard for the physical effects of hate. Yes, someone can disarm a hater by choosing not to listen to their words or let those words effect them, but how does one ignore a bullet to the brain? How is the one who is hate supposed to take Sullivan's advice then? He presented complicated arguments but ended in what I would consider to be a simplistic conclusion to such a complicated topic.
I would have loved to read his thoughts on how an individual and a culture should respond to the physical acts of hate. Or, if he had no answers to give, to freely admit that. Most of the time in life there are no simple answers.
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