Is there such thing as justified hatred?

The passage seen on page 38 of The Assault makes some very interesting suggestions, while in itself the passage is somewhat ironic. The passage begins with thoughts of light and love, comparing the two phenomenon and praising the goodness seen within both. The rest of the passage, though, begins talking about darkness and hate, the two opposites of light and love. This juxtaposition becomes even more interesting when the speaker comments on the fact that they have all of these qualities; love, light, darkness, and hate.

The writer then begins comparing different types of hate, attempting to justify his own. He comments on the fact that Nazis hate just because they’re bad people, while the writer hates hatred itself. This idea suggests a very interesting question: Is hating hatred more justified than normal hatred? Several people would suggest different answers to this question. Different leaders of the same movement may even suggest different answers. Martin Luther King Jr, for example, would only ever preach love, not hatred, and peaceful protest. Dr. King asserted that hatred is inessential in order to defeat other hatred. Malcolm X, on the other hand, had a perspective asserting that hatred needs to be met with hatred, justifying his own. In the end, Dr. King was the leader who was more remembered, suggesting that a peaceful, loving approach is more effective, and that love, along with light, is not necessarily required in order to fight blind hatred.