Oh bartender, a tall glass of haterade please

This blog is inspired by Goldberg's (1999) chapter "The Hate that Heals." I think it is an excellent piece to read after last week's discussion on aggressive behavior especially in the context of acts like bullying and social aggression. Before I digress into my thoughts related to the article, I can't help but post one of my all time favorite Chappelle's Show skits entitled "The Player Haters Ball." When I started reading the hate chapter these images, for reasons that I am still not entirely sure of, came to mind and I began to ponder if this was an, albeit humorous, example of constructive and functional hate.
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=24419

I was drawn to Goldberg's statement that "when constructive hate is prohibited, people develop the idea that their rage and hate are not just feelings, rather they are extraordinary weapons" (p. 219). I think this concept is relevant to developing a deeper understanding rampage violence and mass shootings that have been occurring at workplaces and schools across the U.S. Two recent examples highlight Goldberg's ideas related to fantasies of revenge and the stabilization of the ego.

Last Wednesday, 26-year old Akouch Kashoual of Lincoln shot and wounded three coworkers at the AmeriCold Logistics storage facility in Crete before turning the gun on himself. Local media reported that friends and family described Akouch as "depressed" and that a Facebook posting stated "Life is unfair it doesn't matter whatever you do to make things right. So tell me what to do to keep living in this world of ours!"

In August, Omar Thornton, shot and killed 8 people at the Hartford Distributors plant in Manchester, CT before committing suicide. When asked about Thornton, family members reported that he had complained to them about racial discrimination at the plant. His girlfriend cited an example from Thornton about a noose and a racial epithet written on a bathroom wall. Thornton was one of the few African-American employees in a mostly white environment.

Goldberg says "when we have been hurt, betrayed, or abandoned, and when we allow ourselves to feel our hate and rage, the idea of revenge is, as they say, sweet" (p. 225). Revenge is a popular theme in art, theatre, music, and movies ranging from communicatively aggressive acts of "getting even" to more violent performances like mass shootings. When I had described myself as a dark side communicator, I used the example of seeing functionality in mass shootings. That's not to say that I agree with these acts, but I can understand why Thornton and Kashoual, among others, turn their feelings of hate and rage into very real weapons that kill those who don't deserve it and also choose to end their lives. In fact most victims in workplace and school shooting are not the intended targets of the perpetrator. Usually the school bullies do not die and the boss is miraculously absent that day. If we start to think about these incidents as not random acts of violence, but as communicative performances that are a cry for help perhaps we can move toward constructive hate.