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kegaard calls this the "anxiety about the good” (SKS 4. p. 421)? Many of us have experienced times when we became so angry at someone we completely cut off communication with them, which prevented the tension from being relieved. It often happens even in romantic relationships that people stop speaking to each other as “punishment.” This results in more serious conflict, which often leads to complications the parties did not initially intend. “Anxiety about the good” therefore means that people often feel too good in conflict to do anything to end it, even though often one word would be enough to resolve a situation. But they do not, since it is such a good feeling to hate and to live in hate. This feels like home. We can add that hate undoubtedly increases group cohesion when members can hate the same things together. It hardly matters who or what they hate. The object of hate is designated, and the group follows the leader with aplomb. The object of our hate can be a person or even a duck. It does not matter. Orwell explained this very well. The only thing we cannot say is whether we are still before 1984 or after it. Or living it. Once that hate has been designated, communication only occurs inside the group. There is nothing to talk about with the other. That has only to be hated. In fact, it is treason to enter into communication with the enemy. The basis of hate is often blind faith, and reason often sleeps in these situations. This is why there is no reasoning with hate. Try to convince someone who hates that what they are doing is unreasonable. It is a pointless waste of your energy. They hate because it is good to hate. In these cases, hate becomes fundamental, and the person who hates becomes a fundamentalist. On the other hand, experience shows that communication can stop the development of hate, simply by allowing each side to get to know the “other.” Many times the demonized other, as soon as we come into contact with them, ceases to be what we thought they were and becomes human. For that reason, those who hate truly to do everything they can to avoid dialogue, and they know 34 And demonic.
