Let’s begin to counter hate by trying to understand hatred

IT would be foolishly romantic to imagine that humanity’s base, destructive instincts can always be controlled or even modified as, in recent days and months, hatred seems to be roaring ever louder around the world.

Hate is asserting its malign influence on many, many fronts and costing innocent life after innocent life, destroying dreams and families as it goes.

It is sometimes driven by vainglorious religious extremism, insular, blinkered nationalism, political ambition or ignorance — and very often just plain fear — but its consequences are always tragic for someone, somewhere.