What is the ethical consequence(s) of what is reported in the article?

Factiva
Dow Jones

Editorial
THE RISE IN HATE GROUPS There's no cure for a nation's hate
Leonard Pitts Jr.
659 words
25 March 2009
The Oregonian
Sunrise
English
© 2009 Oregonian Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
THE RISE IN HATE GROUPS There's no cure
for a nation's hate
Leonard Pitts Jr.
T here are now 926 hate groups in this country.
Take a second and consider that number. It represents an increase of more than 50 percent since 2000. And by "hate groups," I don't mean guys in their bathrobes who go online and pretend their followers are legion. No, I mean actual Klan cells, neo-Nazi sects, gay-bashing "churches," cliques of black separatists, white nationalists, nativists, racist skinheads and other merchants of venom who meet, plot and recruit in all 48 contiguous states. (Alaska and Hawaii have no known hate groups.) Nine hundred twenty-six of them. The number is a record.
We learn all this from the Southern Poverty Law Center (www.splcenter.org[http://www.splcenter.org]) in Montgomery, Ala., which has, since its founding in 1971, become a leading authority on the business of hate. According to the latest issue of Intelligence Report, the SPLC's quarterly magazine, that business is booming.
And maybe you wonder how this can be. How can hate enjoy such phenomenal growth in a nation where a Jew serves as senator from Connecticut, a Muslim serves as representative from Minnesota, a Hispanic is governor of New Mexico and a black man is president? The answer is that we are a nation where a Jew serves as senator from Connecticut, a Muslim serves as representative from Minnesota, a Hispanic is governor of New Mexico and a black man is president. Because if those things strike you as signs of progress, well, they are signs of apocalypse to those who believe only white, male Christians are fit to lead.
But that's not the only reason for the increase. SPLC also cites the debate over illegal immigration that has dominated much of this decade. Though former President George W. Bush offered thoughtful, moderate leadership on the issue, he was drowned out by demagogic extremists competing to see which could most effectively scapegoat undocumented workers. They, too, bear responsibility here.
Finally, there is the economy. When things get tough, people become more receptive to the idea that their miseries are all the fault of some alien other.
I imagine the SPLC findings land like cold water in the faces of those who took Obama's ascension to the presidency as proof that the nation was finally cured of the sickness of hate. The truth, I'm afraid, is more nuanced than that.
Maybe it helps to think in terms of alcoholism, a disease that can, with treatment, be contained, controlled, put into remission --but never cured.
Hate is something like that, a fact some of us have never quite understood. Such folks are convinced there is a goal line out there somewhere, which, once crossed, will allow the nation to declare itself cured. And once cured, we'll never have to grapple with hatred again.
But it doesn't work that way.
In a nation so deeply fractured by culture, race and religion, there is always a temptation to hate somebody, to blame some group of others for the job you lost, the crime committed against you, the fear and uncertainty you feel. There is a simplicity and a seductiveness to it that are all too easily mistaken for righteousness.
So there is no "cure" for a nation's hate. There is only an ongoing process of getting better, not unlike the alcoholic who must daily earn his sobriety anew. This explosion of hate is a reminder of what happens when we forget that, when we are undeservedly sanguine about how enlightened we've become.
It is said that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Well, that's the going rate for tolerance, too.
2009, The Miami Herald
Reach Leonard Pitts Jr. via e-mail at lpitts@herald.com
Document POR0000020090326e53p0001j

© 2009 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

The article reminds me of some of the basic values taught to us in school days, respect your parents, love your neighbors, treat your animals well, bring joy to someone’s face if you can, don’t cause harm to anyone.
I was curious so I went to the SPL site to find out there are 23 hate groups in Ohio itself. A feeling of fear came rushing into me. The next thing was that I wanted to make my own group. Hate is feed from society and social values. Nazism, Soviet communism, fanatic religious groups or ordinary street gangs seek total domination and control. All these groups are due to moral differences.
The article states the three major reasons for increase in the hate groups i.e. believe, illegal immigration and economic downfall. I say that the only thing stopping me from creating my own hate group is the moral lessons taught by my mother. The ethical consequences due to this article can be very constructive. The article motivates all people to do the right thing…simply because it was the right thing to do, would make this earth a better place to live and not just survive. People have to develop a strong sense of moral values and act accordingly. The dire ethical consequences on the other hand would be the end of the world ultimately due to hate.
The vast differences in race, culture and religion makes the word hate comes up very easily. I completely agree with the author that hate is the alcohol which society has to stop consuming. But the temptation and fear are too high. We as a part of society together have to overcome this to make the world a peaceful planet. This needs to be addressed by society at large.