"Hatred" revisited and concluded

On September 1st, 2011, I wrote a post named "Hatred". In that post I philosophize about different aspects of hatred that we encounter in real life and in SecondLife.

Afterwards I have been told that some people found my post objectionable because they read it as if I regarded the hate they had demonstrated in a certain instance as equivalent or similar to the hate shown by the Norwegian mass murderer A.B.B. According to their opinion I had not only done so against the people who had been active in the chat I had witnessed and referred to in my post, but to all members of that particular group, whether or not they had taken part in the chat or even if they were logged in to SecondLife at that time or not.

I was also told that I had no basis for my conclusions concerning what I had witnessed because I did not refer to what may or may not have happened in that particular group chat the day before or two hours earlier (when I had not been in-world) or what happened in it after I had logged out of SecondLife. I should have investigated more, they have told me.

The topic has also been elaborated on in some of the Scandinavian SecondLife blogs with the same objections aired.

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I have reread my original post several times and have been contemplating the objections I have received. After due thought and consideration I have reached the following conclusions.

To me hate is hate is hate is hate and will never be anything else but hate. 

Hate is usually defined as an intense dislike of something or some individual or group of people. In my assessment hate makes you blind to any redeeming qualities, it is relentless and poisons your soul and your outlook on the world around you. 

Of course there are different degrees of hating and the damages caused are of different magnitude. I have never said - and have never intended to say - that the haters in SecondLife are anywhere like A.B.B., except possibly by the fact that they allow hate to influence and guide their lives and actions. 

I take full responsibility for my words and actions. I see no need to retract anything whatsoever in the post I wrote. I cannot take away the experiences or hurt feelings that some people claim they have had, but I cannot be held accountable for the hurt feelings of those who deliberately misinterpret or distort my words to suit their own objectives or views.

Finally I would like to emphasize that I have never claimed to be an investigator or a reporter. What I write in this blog is my truth as I experience it and as I witness it. 

I have always chosen to write only about what I witness myself and have never ever relied on what others say has happened before or after or during. This blog is an account of my own experiences, actions and reactions and not a megaphone for anyone else.

Now I intend to go on with my lives without letting the haters affect or influence me anymore.