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Title details for Considering Hate by Kay Whitlock - Available

Considering Hate

Violence, Goodness, and Justice in American Culture and Politics

by Kay Whitlock
Michael Bronski
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A provocative book about rethinking hatred and violence in America
 
Over the centuries American society has been plagued by brutality fueled by disregard for the humanity of others: systemic violence against Native peoples, black people, and immigrants. More recent examples include the Steubenville rape case and the murders of Matthew Shepard, Jennifer Daugherty, Marcelo Lucero, and Trayvon Martin. Most Americans see such acts as driven by hate. But is this right? Longtime activists and political theorists Kay Whitlock and Michael Bronski boldly assert that American society’s reliance on the framework of hate to explain these acts is wrongheaded, misleading, and ultimately harmful.
All too often Americans choose to believe that terrible cruelty is aberrant, caused primarily by “extremists” and misfits. The inevitable remedy of intensified government-based policing, increased surveillance, and harsher punishments has never worked and does not work now. Stand-your-ground laws; the US prison system; police harassment of people of color, women, and LGBT people; and the so-called war on terror demonstrate that the remedies themselves are forms of institutionalized violence.
Considering Hate challenges easy assumptions and failed solutions, arguing that “hate violence” reflects existing cultural norms. Drawing upon social science, philosophy, theology, film, and literature, the authors examine how hate and common, even ordinary, forms of individual and group violence are excused and normalized in popular culture and political discussion. This massive denial of brutal reality profoundly warps society’s ideas about goodness and justice.
Whitlock and Bronski invite readers to radically reimagine the meaning and structures of justice within a new framework of community wholeness, collective responsibility, and civic goodness.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 6, 2015

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780807091920

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780807091920
      • File size: 1985 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2014

      The social and psychological phenomenon of hate is defined by many people as many different things. Whitlock (Queer (In)Justice) and Bronski (A Queer History of the United States) explore how hate evolves from fear; typically from a uncertainty that exists as an irrational prejudice inadvertently inherited from societal rules. The authors identify the role of scorn in American society: its evolution, its impact, and the ideas of justice and personhood that help to define it. Writings that exist on the subject primarily discuss race, but this work delves into disability, economic conditions, and sexuality, revealing the consistent patterns of animosity and struggle that marginalized groups experience. The narrative reminds us that hate is a complex combination of many concepts and can be fought by paying attention to the areas of society that deal with hate violence--and that it is possible to rewrite what exists in our collective imaginations about what it means to be good, just, and fair. It's encouraging to see gender and sexual identity included in these discussions of bias. VERDICT A very provocative and enjoyable academic read. This well-researched volume successfully provides intriguing and challenging ideas while remaining clear and concise. Recommended for those interested in the evolving roles of prejudice and violence and the effects on our justice system.--Cicely Douglas, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

      Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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