Does expressing hatred have a sort cathartic effect on the spirit?

I don’t hate.
Hate, I feel, eats away from the hater’s own heart.
And doesn’t, necessarily, do much to the person hated.
If it ever rears its head, one day, for whatever reason, I’ll see what I’ll do with it then.
But I don’t like the concept.

You mean like all the questions where people ask what others dislike or find annoying or disgusting?
I’d say yes, to a degree. Shirley Jackson was made famous by expressing that idea.

Screw all of you! :)

There. Now I feel as good and cleansed as if I had just taken a dump after not going for three days.

But seriously, while talking about dislikes and expressing your anger at other people for having different opinions than your own can be relieving at first, too much of it and it just tends to poison your soul so that you become a bitter unpleasant person that brings others down. We all need to vent sometimes, but we don’t need to make it a way of life.

@canidmajor

No, I don’t mean that. For example, I do not hate people who are obese. But I do think that if they take up more than one seat on an airplane, they ought to pay for two, rather than steal the extra space from their neighbor. And if I could, I would make a rule that people on airplanes should wear a mask if they show symptoms of cold or flu.
I know this does not make me seem like a sweetheart, and that would make sense. I am not.
But being a pragmatist does not make me a hater.
No, I am talking about the palpable raging stuff that shows up fairly regularly on this site.
Just curious if it serves some long term purpose.

@Demosthenes

I know what you mean. I had my knees fixed recently and took a few dreaded opioid drugs for pain. I am sure you know that narcotics can cause system back up. For about three days.
Not good.

Hatred of – and intolerance of – xenophobia, misogyny, racism, economic inequality, etc is good for society, not necessarily the “spirit”.

Well, hmmmm. It’‘s true. There are some really hateful people here. I don’t know how all of that negative energy makes them feel. It wouldn’t make me feel very good about myself.

I mean, you’d have to ask the hateful bastards & even then they’d be in denial, but worth a try.
Personally i’m of the opinion that hate does nothing but make the hater chew themselves up from the inside out & both are equally ugly & mark them out as ones to avoid.
Easy to spot they’re the ones who wear an expression as if dog shit was rubbed under their noses…permanently.

Frankly I’ve lost my temper a time or two, and letting it out did feel good. A person can only be called a name for so long before they stand up for themselves and call a liar a liar. It’s a shame there are so many here, though, that talk about tolerance and show zero.

@josie, geez, I was just talking about the cathartic aspect of your theory.
The numbers of questions that appear here about annoyance and such are legion, and people seem to feed off of those threads and get more and more vehement.

I wasn’t actually talking about you. <eyeroll>

Let’s be very honest, in most of these Trump hating threads, the OP does it intentionally, which is supposed to be flagged as Flamebait. But we don’t do that anymore, or at least most of the jellies I know well do not.

So what’s the intention, is it to slap each other on the back and say ‘Trump’s such an ass’ over and over?

Is it a backwards attempt to sway weak-minded populists opinions?

You’d have to ask the people who post Flamebait why they post it and what reactions they hope for, before you can address why people answer those questions.

For me, I try to only engage if I see everyone agreeing, which is hella boring and pointless. Or if I see someone I agree with being attacked. :)

Trump is an asshat. I could never say it too much. He lies constantly, and for no reason!

@Dutchess_III And that’s YOUR opinion but this is not The Dutchess Opinion site.

Does it need to be said five million times to people who already know how you feel about it? I mean honestly, what is the point in posting that over and over?

I’m truly interested, not being a jerk.

Anyone who would punish hard working Ameicans over Mexico’s failure to pay for a fucking wall is an asshat. Anyone who would say that most of the people who are temporarily out of work are dems is an idiot. Anyone who would lie about raises for the armed forces to their faces is an asshat….and all of that was just TODAY!

Sometimes you just have to point the finger and say that guy is despicable, he shouldn’t be in public office. Most of us have standards that we live by and we expect those who represent us to have standards also. If we were to remain silent there would soon not be any standards. Don’t call it hatred, call it a love of decency.

@canidmajor

No reason to think you were talking about me and would have never imagined that you were. Just using me as an example. No <eye roll>
What is <eyeroll> anyway. Seems to be a Fluther convention but I don’t get it.
Bet it is not a gesture of affection or respect.

Somebody has to say it…. @canidmajor, it is ridiculous for a full grown, mature woman to use the mannerisms of a pre-pubescent valley girl to show their contempt for someone. You should have left all that behind 40 years ago.

Righteous indignation or that which we perceived as righteous indignation is always cathartic. : )

Not sure righteous indignation is similar to hatred. But having said that I have used the same equivocation before and it didn’t work for me.
But happy for you : )

I can’t speak for @canidmajor, but I think the <eyeroll> was a way to use an emoji on here as we don’t have the ability to use them. Kind of like the post above me ^ where @josie used a smiley face.

So what does it convey?
Something complimentory?
Something positive?
Something admirable?
Bet not

It could be the reverse if the result of expressing such a thing will get you in to trouble, more trouble than not expressing your hatred. If releasing the anger has no direct consequence to others and yourself (with the exception of mind relief) then it’s as beneficial as the effect of expressing anger (whether through destruction, profane language, or other methods) to release the stress from the mind, and this is scientific.

Josie. The eye roll explained. It’s a weapon for teenage girls.

Got it. Thanks.
I guess you only have to be 13 to participate on Fluther, right?

And then there are adults that act like thirteen year olds…