Hate
Related: aggression - emotion - fear (we fear what we hate and vice versa) - feeling
Varieties: love-hate relationship - misanthropy misogyny - self-hatred
Contrast: love
Definition
Hate or hatred is an emotion of intense revulsion, distaste, enmity, or antipathy for a person, thing, or phenomenon; a desire to avoid, restrict, remove, or destroy its object.
Hatred can be based on fear of its object, justified or unjustified, or past negative consequences of dealing with that object.
Hatred is often described as the opposite of love or friendship; others consider the opposite of love to be indifference. See love-hate relationship.
"Hate" or "hatred" are also used to describe feelings of prejudice or bigotry against a group of people, such as racism, religious prejudice, or homophobia, especially when these are particularly intense. Hate crimes are crimes committed out of hatred in this sense. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate [Jul 2004]
Hate speech
There is considerable debate over how or whether hate speech can be defined; whether speech thus labeled ought to be regulated; and if so, how and by whom. These debates center on three critical questions: First, what is the force of speech? Is it the expression of personal thoughts, or is it a form of action that affects and can harm others? Second, is the free expression of ideas which some perceive as hateful necessary for healthy public debate, or is it harmful to public debate? Third, should governmental policies be founded upon the protection of interests and rights of individuals, or of identifiable groups -- such as sexual orientation (e.g., homosexuals) and race (e.g., racial minorities)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech, Jan 2004