Jerry Davich: America the Hateful is fueled by primal fear, stoked by online algorithms (2024)

America the Hateful is a raging inferno of blind outrage, fueled by primal fear and stoked by online algorithms.

Our country is becoming increasingly poisoned by free speech anger and incentivized by digital clicks, artificial intelligence and good old-fashioned ignorance.

Our world’s communications systems have never been so accessible to humans from every crevice of the planet, yet so susceptible to hatred. It taps into our natural tendencies toward judgment, bigotry, tribalism and hostility.

We see it in public opinion polls and online chats. We see itin the eyes of young males searching for a purpose.We see it in the violent actions of nationalist politics. We see it masked by religion and rationalized by self-righteousness.

Woke culture. Cancel culture. Outrage culture. Our pop cultures are eating each other alive. It typically boils down to “us” versus “them,” just as it does with most hate-filled conflicts.

What was once a cottage industry for basem*nt-dwelling radicals and agenda-minded extremists has become mainstreamed and normalized. It’s so common that we don’t realize how pervasive it is in our daily lives.

For example, an older relative of mine who was once sweet as apple pie is now filled with hatred and bitterness, soured by partisan politics. She constantly watches the same cable news network to justify her anger. Day after day, issue after issue, she rages on like a wildfire that can’t be contained.

This is now who she has become. I’m not sure if she even realizes it.

Fabricated hate makes forever enemies from friends and family members. Manufactured hate makes ungodly amounts of revenue for national media outlets.

Regurgitated hate is being weaponized, monetized and politicized more than ever in human history, because of the internet, social media and cable news networks. Most every topic circles back to “us” versus “them.”

We’re right. They’re wrong. We’re justified. They’re vilified. We’re righteous. They’re treacherous. Sound familiar?

Over the past few months, hate has been flaring up at college campuses, sparked by pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitic backlashes in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

A recent congressional hearing titled“Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos”investigated accusations that major universities have been fostering climates hostile or discriminatory to Jews. Chaos is a historically explosive accelerant for any conflict, from political to economical. Hate and hostility are age-old accomplices to war and killing.

The never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated, but it comes down to the same common ground of conflict: “us” versus “them.” This isn’t strictly about Jews and Palestinians. It’s about humans. It’s about power. It’s about hate. And it’s barraging our society like the Israeli bombing of Gaza.

On college campuses, the internet and nightly news, it’s being strategically weaponized to create chaos, outrage and public harm.

In 2022 alone, the U.S. Department of Justice counts 11,634 hate crime incidents involving 13,337 offenses. Submitted by 14,631 law enforcement agencies, the annual report of hate crimes data provides information about the offenses, victims, offenders and locations.

But no one knows the actual numbers of hate crime incidents and attacks. Each yearly report is merely a snapshot of hate and its criminal repercussions, nothing more.

Hate is like lighter fluid on a barbecue grill. It doesn’t take much to inflame any issue, be it abortion, immigration, presidential politics or foreign policy. Even a seemingly innocuous pop culture topic, such as a silly movie about the fictional history of Pop Tarts, can instantly burst into flames.

Despite our thinly veiled attempts to be cordial and civilized, we are a hate-filled species looking for any excuse to unleash our outrage under the guise of “free speech.”

Left-wing victimhood, right-wing vilification, political propaganda, racism, sexism, antisemitism -- it doesn’t matter. Hate is the puppet master, and it’s dangling us over the raging inferno of outrage that we pretend is public discourse.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” He was assassinated by hate a few years later.

This will always be the end game in a culture of hate. And we’re handing it down to the next generations, one algorithm at a time, one action at a time.