Fear - Hate - Blame

What is the direct correlation of the three words in the title of this post? I thought long and hard about the order of the words, maybe the order should be Fear-Blame-Hate. The one thing that stood out to me is that Fear should come first, as to me that is the root word of the three. These three words form a ferocious whirlpool of emotion. These emotions can cause a person to spin out of control. This vortex, left unchecked, can kill a person much like cancer slowly eating away the body.

If fear is the pivot word out of the three, it is also the key to unlocking the cycle. Fear causes hate and blame. When I use the word hate, I do not mean dislike. Although I do think Fear causes Blame somewhat, I believe hate actually causes blame. Blame is also an excuse to support the hatred, in the same way hatred is an excuse to support the fear. In essence we now have a bi directional whirlpool that is even more dangerous. One direction the emotions are being created, in the reverse direction the emotions are being supported as excuses. The perfect storm of emotion.

If you take fear out of the equation the triad falls apart, maybe not instantly, but with time. What makes fear so powerful? That would be simple, it's the unknown. In whatever context you put the triad of words, you will find that it all boils down to the unknown. Why is it human nature to fear the unknown? Obviously we like the comfort of familiar, but there has to be more to it than that. Could it be we had a bad experience in our youth discovering the unknown? Maybe it's genetic going far back into our DNA. Our distant ancestor were fearful of the night, and longed for the light of day. Perhaps it's the vulnerability of the unknown. The list could go on and on.

If the power in fear is the unknown, then understanding would eliminate the fear. This is a very simple idea, yet when caught in vortex of the triad it is so hard grasp the concept. The question then becomes how do we defuse the fear enough to allow understanding? How can you change the perspective of a person drowning in the triad? The frightening thing is some people actually thrive on hate. These people have lived with fear hatred, and blame so long it has become their perceived natural state.

I would also submit, that everybody has different degrees of fear, not so much in what causes the fear, but how deeply the fear is felt and reacted to. I believe fear is natural in human beings, it's the different degrees of fear among us that is interesting to me. Feasibly this could also be a byproduct of genetics, or maybe the experiences of our youth. This would be a fascinating topic for research for somebody more qualified than myself.

What spurred this train of thought was an news article on the CNN website written by Stephanie Chen called "Growing Hate Groups Blame Obama, Economy". As I read the article I began to see the relationship of Fear, Hate, and Blame, and just how out of control it is within the hate groups. Each of the groups of people have a fear of something. The fear is immense and therefore the hatred extreme with enough blame to support the out of control hatred.

The statics are very alarming.

"The center's report, "The Year in Hate," found the number of hate groups grew by 54 percent since 2000. The study identified 926 hate groups -- defined as groups with beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people -- active in 2008. That's a 4 percent jump, adding 38 more than the year before."


"On the day after Obama's historic election, more than 2,000 people joined his Web site, a remarkable increase from the approximately 80 new members a day he was getting, Black said. His Web site, which was started in 1995, is one of the oldest and largest hate group sites. The site received so many hits that it crashed after election results were announced. The site boasts 110,000 registered members today, Black said."

What is also interesting to me, aside from the race issue, is the struggling economy is also producing a surge in new members. The fear of losing everything produces a hatred by blaming a group of people for the struggling economy. In this case it is the Latino immigrants, legal and illegal, that are receiving the brunt of this hatred blaming. This is so sad, as nothing could be further from the truth.

"In the city of Detroit, Michigan, where the weak economy has taken a particularly devastating toll, Jeff Schoep serves as the commander for the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the United States.

Schoep said he has seen membership grow by 40 percent in recent months, mostly because of the dire economic circumstances. It is the "most dramatic growth" he has seen since he joined the movement in the mid-1990s. The group does not reveal membership numbers to the media, he said.

"You have an American work force facing massive unemployment," Schoep said. "And you have presidents and politicians flinging open the borders telling them to take the few jobs left while our men are in soup kitchens."

This is from a man in Detroit, where the UAW refused to budge on their demands of the automakers. Do you really think those unemployed men in the soup kitchen would harvest lettuce in California for $7 an hour or less? Much less work in a kitchen restaurant washing dishes for the same? Preying on fear and causing hatred to grow, with enough blame for anybody interested.

I acknowledge that hate groups are an extreme sect, and not representative of the general population. I also understand we are dealing with radical examples of emotion, but I also think by examining these emotions, in this context, makes it much easier to see the relationship each emotion has to the other.

Do you see how quickly the triad turns into vortex, swallowing all logic and decency in it's path?

Should you be interested the article would be here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/26/hate.groups.report/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Dead Trees

Ten years ago I was driving through the country heading to a near by town. There was a dead tree that immediately captured my attention. I slowed down to take in all of the details of this carcass of a tree. It had been a tall strong tree when it was alive and yet some how the strength remained even in death. Most of the limbs had fallen to the ground surrounding the base of the trunk with decay. The stubs of limbs still attached, pushed up into the clear blue sky, the contrast between life and death was mesmerizing. I continued on my journey, and yet the vision of the tree followed me.

Every time I drove by that tree it was just as powerful. Over the years the tree continued to decay, limb after limb falling to the ground, yet somehow it still retained the magical beauty of the first time I saw it. I began to notice more dead trees, each one unique, all incredibly moving. Through the years I kept telling myself, "one day you need to get some photos" and yet talk myself out of actually doing it.

Yesterday I took action. With camera and tripod in hand I hopped in my truck and took off on a slow cruise looking for dead trees. I started out down the road wondering if the first tree was still there, as I don't drive that road very often. I found the tree...it was a pile of rotting wood. I slowed down and paused to remember the inspiration that tree had given me so many years ago.

Three hours and a few miles later, I had 60 photographs of dead trees. After uploading the photos I decided this shoot was just a beginning as I will carry my camera in my truck and I will take the time to capture this phenomenon every time it moves me.