"Something I have to watch out for in myself: Careful that skepticism doesn't turn hateful. It's a fine line but it's a line that is there and can be followed if I'm careful. Always remember human dignity. That group of people it was fashionable to dismiss and show contempt for is still a group of people I was making the active decision to condemn. That says more about me than it does about any other group. It is still an active choice on my part to be hateful, even if one thinks one hates the hate of others. Even if one thinks one is just acting in response. Retaliation is not rational in the majority of circumstances, anymore. Those "others" are a mirror. Don't reflect back your ugliest qualities into the outward world, Kate, it damages you on the inside to allow this for more than a few seconds, before you catch yourself. Any hate that builds past the point of my self-awareness is an active ugliness that I build in the world and there is no excuse for that. If I need to express anger, or devastation or any negative emotion, I let myself have time for that. But to choose to hate another person or group is something beyond self-expression and it becomes an active choice to do something quite disgusting, energetically speaking. There is a tragic irony at work among humans today - we hate the haters, possibly with more vitriol than meets perceived "requirements." Hate is never a requirement. Hate is only ever a self-indulgent way to subconsciously, viciously, repress unexpressed or unconscious negative emotions. By projecting them outward at a target. Just because it's fashionable to hate certain groups for our perception of their views, or our perception of their histories, doesn't mean hate is by any means ok within the true laws of one's own heart. There but for the grace of god go I. And I choose understanding over hate. I choose to hear what people have to say. I don't have to agree with them, that's my choice, but I choose to have patience and tolerance and an open mind and heart. I choose to be curious and ask genuine questions to people I might disagree with, because if I'm not curious, then I have a tendency to label people, and labels can do more harm than good sometimes."