1. Funny thing, discrimination is ALSO often based on love more than hate. A thread.
2. One of the first things you learn in social psychology is that in-group preference is robustly stronger than out-group derogation. “I like us more than I hate y’all.”
3. This is in part because people are more willing to say it out loud/willing to admit it to themselves. But a preference for the gentler sounding “love us” over “hate y’all” does not magically make the different behaviors that result any less discriminatory.
4. Hiring someone “like me” doesn’t put food on “their table” any more than not hiring someone “like them.” Forgiving a crime, granting a loan, seeing someone’s humanity...all of those positive things someone gives “their people”...the flip side is discrimination.
5. Still, psychologically it FEELS like having a preference for someone similar is just...nicer than punishing someone because they’re different. The first seems neighborly. The second is bigotry!
6. That’s part of why it’s so important we talk about White supremacy and male privilege. It’s also part of why we should STOP talking about racism, sexism, heterosexism, and the rest as if they reduced to feelings (e.g., ignorance and hate).
7. These injustices we fight, they’re systems and behaviors far more than they are feelings. That means those who perpetuate them will feel...all the things. Love, hate, fear, joy. All at the appropriate targets that help or hinder that system and those behaviors.
8. So, please, do not be fooled by the claim that nationalism is more about “feeling good” than “feeling hate.” Racism and sexism often are too. Not that it’s bad to love “your people.” It’s that, when we’re not careful, everyone else gets the short end of the stick.
