“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”

That was said by Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and the 1986 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

I believe that this quote applies to George W. Bush. I believe that he does not hate poor people, or hate black people, or hate brown people, or hate non-Christian people, or hate many others for that matter. Rather, he is just totally indifferent to their existence.

My guess is that Bush reserves his hatred for those whom he personally knows, or comes into contact with, that either disagree with him, or refuse to recognize his self-image of his own infallibility.

Dick Cheney, on the other hand, strikes me as a person who hates everyone simply because they exist. I have no idea what goes on in this man’s mind, but his disdain for others, his ability to knowingly ignore truth, or basic decency, his disregard of one of the greatest documents of liberty ever written – our Constitution, -- his willingness to profit at the cost of countless lives, makes him as despicable a being as one can imagine.

The observation I’m making here is that, whether a person hates, or is simply indifferent, the outcome is often the same. And the combination of two such people have brought our freedoms and our country to the brink of destruction.

K&R

:patriot:

And that applies to GW & Co. too ~ they're always afraid they won't keep getting as much as they want, that if others get something too there will be less for them.

It's a scarcity mentality ~ even God isn't enough to go around!

he hates himself the most.

:shrug:

that I will not succumb to the fear mongering: I will not vote for a candidate solely because he/she can beat the Republican, I will vote my conscience and feel good about the vote that I cast. Whether that leads to my candidate winning is almost secondary.

I know he's not indifferent about it.

However, this post is about a far broader issue than Iraq. If you have a different point to make, I'm not sure this is the thread for it.

the significance of a quote from him on love, hate, and indifference,
especially when he was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize,
and particularly when you use his quote to comment on the architects
of that war. Are you indifferent to the fact that he supported
the war? Philosophy is one thing, war is another.

Sounds like a condition of some sort; not quite sociopathic, but close.

Primary trait of narcs: lack of empathy. Even more than a grandiose attitude, lack of empathy defines a narcissist.

Narcissism is a milder form of psychopathy.

I just thought it meant to be in love with one's self (which I am - deeply).

...when we were children (when the whole world revolved around us). We grow up and learn to care about others, too, while still maintaining a healthy self-esteem.

The problem with narcs though (those with NPD - where narcissism consistently and negatively affects their lives and relationships) is that they never grow out of the idea that the world revolves around only them and their desires and needs, and they cannot empathize with others (ie: put themselves in other people's shoes) so-to-speak.

They just never get there, even in adulthood. Their disorder goes beyond healthy self-esteem all the way to complete self-absorption to the exclusion of the needs or feelings of anyone else. (see GWB)

Then, the grandiosity is from a false self-image (based on severe self-hatred) that is completely formed by other people mirroring back to the narcissist what and who and how they falsely believe themselves to be. (this mirroring is called narcissistic supply).

Narcissists go to great lengths and efforts to keep up that false outer image and to keep it coming back to them from other people. Other people are nothing but an extension of themselves, a tool, a mirror to help reflect their false self-image back to them.

Simultaneously, other people are also their personal trashcan, into which they dump their actual or percieved faults and shortcomings, projecting them onto/into another person - usually with great cruelty.

** If another person gets more praise or recognition in any situation or in any way than a narc does, the narc will tear the "good" trait the other person has, or was praised or recognized for down (ie: (s)he will begin to tear the other person down), whilst dumping his/her faults onto that other person too (projection, which appears as gross hypocrisy).

** See: REPUBLICANS and the media their corporations own - the above is one of their primary M.O.s

It's easy to see then, why narcissists have constant problems maintaining long-term relationships.

If any of this describes you, then maybe you are a narc, - HOWEVER the very fact that you CALL YOURSELF that, tells me you likely are NOT! You probably just have healthy self-esteem!

A narcissist would never recognize or admit their disorder or ANY faults with themselves. Any fault or mistake to them is a threat to their false self-image (which is flawless, perfect, omnipotent, and superior). They would never recognize or admit or take responsibility for anything negative about themselves or any shortcomings or mistakes. Narcissists also never apologize, or rarely - because in their minds, they never do anything wrong. Only OTHER people do. It's always someone ELSE'S fault with a narcissist.

Just look at GWB.

Has he EVER admitted he has made any mistakes as President? I don't think he has. Even when pointedly asked that question, he has not acknowledged one mistake he's ever made - not even when practically everything he DOES is a mistake/erroneous/cold-blooded/ and criminal.

The number of people's lives he's ruined and the number of people he's killed with his policies doesn't even REGISTER in his mind. ZERO empathy. Look at him when he tries to FAKE empathy. It's incredibly and pretentiously nauseating and totally disingenuous. And it's OBVIOUS that empathy is something he

just.
can't.
do.

THAT is a narc.

My entire self is nothing BUT faults and mistakes; faults and mistakes that I have addressed and accepted to a large extent.

Thanks for the info. g.

I'm more worried about the GWB's of the world...aaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

common in narcissists/sociopaths - like GWB

wouldn't necessarily presage the break-up of the family or couple. However, when communications ceased all together, a situation that indifference would give rise to, then, if it continued for long, it would spell the end of the line for them.

it's creation." --From the musical "Rent."

GW Bush is all about destruction--Iraq, Iran, US standing in the world, air, water, the Constitution, etc.

And, yes, as you have reminded us, he is indifferent to suffering because he is pathological.

it's the indifference & unfeeling that is on the other.

also reminds me how i explain why anger and hatred are not always bad emotions to go through. hate is just a violent emotional response to the desecrating offense of what we love. people hate those that hurt themselves, their friends, their family, their country, their pride, their property, etc. why? because they deeply love those things and cannot tolerate wrongs done to them.

the response from hate can manifest in various ways: from righteous indignation and justice to vengeance and petty cruelty, from defense to invasion, from restraint to exploitation, from courage to wrath. this holds the essential danger about hate -- the correspondent emotion to intense love -- for it opens two paths that requires good moral judgment to navigate.

people who cannot care about such things, apathy, are consumed in sloth and occasionally vanity. the world is to be exploited and endured insofar as to lavish their every whim and then just go away. their actions are not supposed to have consequences -- well, none that are worth caring about. it is the vice level of self-interest and objectivism; all that matters is me, the world is reduced to selfishness. destruction is through entropy and exploitation.

this is where indifference and hate, and oddly enough so can love, agree, destruction. love can succumb through all-consuming passion -- also known as lust, greed, and gluttony. through excess in creation (through love and passion), preservation (through hate and revenge), or destruction (through apathy and entropy) we can walk the path onto amorality and destruction. we are then condemned by our failings to live through their ramifications as they echo back as subtle tortures in our lives. we shall not find rest for we must perpetuate our guiding principles, and not freed for we are sure of our righteousness.

everything you do can exalt or condemn you, in all forms, but the nexus is in the discernment. the choice before is just the means of implementation and the forcefulness applied. and there is no escape, for even not choosing is a choice...

life's grand, ain't it? :7

and that they cannot co-exist . . . when love is present, fear cannot be . . . and when fear is present, love cannot be . . .

Love versus fear

There are really only two emotions in the Physical Universe - love and fear. An article by Alex Paterson.

http://www.esolibris.com/articles/reality/love_versus_fear.php

There are really only two emotions in the Physical Universe - those being love and fear. All other emotions are just variations on these two primary states of emotion. Love is the emotion associated with a 'knowing' that everything in the Universe is an expression of a singularity (i.e. God) and is therefore interconnected, whereas fear is the emotion underlying the perception (i.e. illusion) of being separate from God. The following article compares these two states of consciousness.

Love is an expression of the Oneness that underlies all reality associated with a deep felt knowing that everything is an expression of Source and that nothing (no-thing) can exist outside Source. By contrast, fear is rooted in the illusory perception of separation that pervades the Physical Universe.

Love expresses itself as an urge towards unity, whereas fear is a result of the perception of dis-unity that is part and parcel to God's game of separation that defines the Physical Universe. (i.e. The 'them' versus 'me' syndrome associated with the isolation currently experienced by most humans)

Love is rooted in a state of ' knowing ', whereas fear is based entirely upon ' beliefs', most of which are false.

- more . . .

http://www.esolibris.com/articles/reality/love_versus_fear.php

Love and fear as the only two human emotions is one of the underlying principles of A Course in Miracles . . .

http://www.acim.org/