PSYCHOLOGY OF HATE: It’s faulty

I don’t know what psychology course Mr. Regan has taken, but some of his emotional principles don’t agree with the ones I learned. Indeed, we have emotions that affect our thinking, but the people I know do not carry their “child minds” much past first grade.

“The child mind cannot differentiate between fantasy and reality?” Wrong. It’s the rare child watching “Sesame Street,” or super heroes, or cartoon fantasies that doesn’t realize there’s no truth there. It is not accurate to say the normal thinking person will think mention of “fraud” will cause the lack of confidence in an election. And very rarely will you hear two responsible nightly “news pundits” give “polar opposites,” unless it’s Fox News and about four other TV stations. Also, “Reject Hate” slogans will not cause thinking people to hate. The “inability to process a negative survives into adulthood” wasn’t in my psychology book.

The point of Regan’s commentary is valid, however. Forming opinions and decisions with “emotions” as opposed to “thinking” is indeed bad. That is precisely why we’re in so much trouble with our democracy. Too many folks “feel” their opinions rather than “think” them. We are emotional creatures who are given free will to use our intellects to overcome our “child minds,” and well-balanced people do that at about sixth-grade level. It’s just common sense.

RON BOOTHE

Kingston