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Letters: Stop the hate

Stop the hate
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Stop the hate

Once again the province of Alberta makes news by becoming the lead in hate crimes. The simple answer to this question is the economy but I would argue it runs deeper than that. Every time someone expresses hatred towards your local politician, provincial politician or federal politician it adds to the level of hate. Every time someone expresses hatred towards a Muslim group or any other identifiable group it adds to the level of hate. I would argue that the level of acceptable language has declined to the point of acceptance of ignorance. Language is a powerful tool that is often abused, exploited and mistreated. Some within our society have become comfortable expressing views that they haven’t bothered to understand or research. A consequence of this is a freedom to offer hatred instead of understanding, love and compassion. My Mother always taught me that “hate” is a very strong word that I was never allowed to use. It is time that we all follow my late mother’s lead and erase the word “hate” from our vocabulary and more importantly some people’s behaviours.

Barry Johns, Sylvan Lake