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Politics : Polite Political Discussion- is it Possible? An Experiment. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (195)	7/30/2006 10:43:15 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1695

I gave a specific example of people who can't stand blacks. Indeed you did. Let's talk about it. "Can't stand" is a garden-variety expression most of us use fairly often, as in "I can't stand artichokes," or "I can't stand people who talk during a movie." It would be unlikely that one would use this expression to convey "hate." Hate is a consuming, deep-seated, passion or obsession. "Can't stand" doesn't carry that meaning well. There may be people who truly hate all blacks, although I think they are an endangered species in contemporary society. If one of these hypothetical persons needed a synonym for their "hate", words like "detest" or "despise" come to mind. If a person actually said "I can't stand blacks," the meaning in all likelihood is, "I don't like blacks." Of course, we can only know what they mean if we ask them, which BTW is recommended before we jump to the conclusion of "hate." Most of us would draw a distinction between "dislike" and "hate," notwithstanding that we (hopefully) deplore either when used in the context of your hypothetical. You used "hate" no less than twelve times in a short paragraph. IMO, "hate" is a word we should use with great care and discretion, lest we cheapen the word to be the equivalent of tastes, preferences, and dislikes. "Hate" should be reserved for an emotion that is explosive and bears the potential of doing harm.