“Hi, my name is Blah D. Blah and I’m a Hater.”
“Hi Blah D. Welcome to Haters Anonymous.”
Well, I very much doubt that there are any 12 Step programs for haters. I doubt haters think they have any kind of addiction problem and certainly would not be ready to say they were powerless over hating or that it had made their lives unmanageable. But haters can certainly affect the lives of others. Haters have upset people, caused professionals’ reputations to be damaged and at worst have bullied and traumatized some people to the point where they have taken their own lives.
Haters have a field day in the realm of social media. They can be found in all areas; groups for people suffering with mental illness, people with children with disabilities, people with addictions, people with horses and people who are just trying to get on and lead a decent life. Anyone, anywhere, can be a victim of haters. Haters do not hold back from attacking other haters either, which is a sort of equalizing factor I suppose.
It is easy to say: “haters gonna hate, just let it go.” It’s not so easy to do it when you are on the receiving end of the hating.
Why do haters hate? Why do they react the way they do? Do they have no empathy? Do they have no respect? Where does this hate come from? I think we would like to believe that in 2017 we are in a civilized world even though the daily news would tell us otherwise. We would like to believe that we are striving for a better world. Are we better? Have we made progress?
Let’s look at ancient Rome. The entertainment at the Coliseum in Rome might be a good place to start. A good afternoon’s entertainment of that time would be to watch some Christians be eaten alive by starving wild animals. Or to watch gladiators hack each other to pieces. Thumbs up…life! Thumbs down…death!
What about the England of the Tudors? If you were one of Henry the 8th’s wives you could lose your head in the relative privacy of the Tower of London witnessed by an invited group of members of the Court and the government. More common criminals or traitors would be publicly hung, drawn and quartered before howling mobs in a public square. This grisly spectacle involved seeing a person hung until almost dead, then be cut down and stretched out while his innards were cut out of him and tossed onto burning coals. All part of an afternoon’s entertainment. 
Were the crowds in the Coliseum haters? Were the crowds in Tudor England, yelling at the executions, haters? Have we lost those venues for haters and now they have to go to the internet? I’m just asking.
Or are the majority of haters people who believe they know better and know more than the rest of us? Do they feel compelled to tell us of the errors of our ways while they have the anonymity of the internet, and the shield of the computer screen?
Haters are all about the “thumbs down” approach to life. I am a “thumbs up” person and I have to believe the majority of people are like me. I’m a “liker”.
What about you?
HorseAddict 
Do you think that some of those haters secretly hate themselves for some reason or another? There are a lot of miserable people out there who are “spreading the love,” lol.
Personally, it is far easier for me to become upset with myself over circumstances that I perceive to be fully within my control (such as an eating problem, sugar addiction, refusal to exercise, procrastination, sleeping in, temper, tendency to gossip, or whatever the case may be). Sometimes I think I must hate myself because I am not good at treating my body well, even though I know better, and I want what’s best for myself.
However, I am rarely upset with anything that is outside my control. I figure all of those things are a part of my human experience, and that they were intended for me.
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You raise an interesting point. Are self haters the haters? Your attitude towards things beyond your control is a good one. Thank you for this interesting and insightful comment.
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Thanks for a thought-provoking post!
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Haters, the most unhappy with themselves, of all people.
I try to see beauty in small, Zenlike things. Getting better each year. Who has time to spread hate then…
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Beauty in small things….wonderful approach to life Elinor! Thank you for this comment.
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If only there was less hate in the world.
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Yes!
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Just as I like to be loved and liked by people, I try to give the same love back to everyone. ❤ I'd call myself a lover as well…and I would DEFINITELY say you're a lover, Anne!!! 🙂 Definitely.
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Thank you Elizabeth! Let’s keep it up.
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YES!!!!! 😀
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I am a lover and am set on spreading love around and shining light on the positive! It is a shame in this ‘social media’ day and age. If only we could ignore them and they would go away.
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I knew you were a lover Avery. You send that message in all your posts. Thank you.
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❤
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The world is in dire need of kindness. I am for supporting people, not tearing
them down.
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Yes! Thank you for this positive comment.
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You are welcome, Anne.
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How interesting that this post comes up after I spent way too much time yesterday following a thread on COTH about a (Canadian!) gal who has set up a dressage website and several social media accounts and personally attacks/blocks/deletes comments from people who disagree with her while professing to hate haters…I personally think she is mentally ill, but she’s just one person so that doesn’t explain the crowd mentality.
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The crowd mentality kicks in when people “like” and “follow” the type of person you are describing. Such people have tens of thousands of “followers” and “likes” . The person you are describing is not alone the equestrian world has many . I have thought about the topic for some time and something that happened recently made me decide it was time to speak up. Thank you for your comment!
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This is a deep question. I am definitely a lover not a hater. I think some of the issues that happen today is that people are so absorbed with Self. So they can’t empathize or be compassionate to others.
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You raise a very good point Fearless. They cannot be empathetic of compassionate because it is all about them. Thanks for this comment.
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You are welcome!
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I’m a lover…I was bullied when I was younger, I don’t take no crap anymore!!! The song Shake it Off by Taylor Swift is coming to mind lol
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Good for you!
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I am definitely a liker and lover 😁
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Yes! Welcome to the bright side!
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Reblogged this on Dream Big, Dream Often and commented:
Horse Addict!
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Thank you. This is a topic I felt compelled to speak out about so I appreciate the re-blog.
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You are most welcome!
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I believe in being a loving and kind human☺
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Thank you good to know you are on the side of kindness and love.
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Thought provoking post, thank you so much for sharing ma’am
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I’m a Lover, spread the love and stay blessed!
xx Storyteller 🙂
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Yes! Thank you for aligning with the bright side!
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ur welcome 🙂
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