Cultivating Hatred 1

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught
Before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people

Your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught

~ Rodgers & Hammerstein, South Pacific (1958)

October 12th will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming college student who was brutally murdered because of his sexual orientation. This post will be the first in a series exploring how we learn to hate.