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HATE IN AMERICA

Hercule Poirot's warning in Death on the Nile—"Don’t let hate into your heart, or it will make a home there"—serves as a potent allegory for current sociopolitical dynamics. In the public sphere, pervasive hate speech functions as a psychological contagion, eroding the sensibilities of citizens, particularly among the youth who struggle with despair and uncertainty regarding the future. Since violence is the ultimate and most damaging manifestation of hate, any political faction that utilizes rhetoric of resentment and division as its core electoral strategy must recognize the profound civic risk involved. To employ hate is to cultivate a climate conducive to its consequence: violence deliberately. Therefore, the essential prerequisite for reducing social violence is the responsible de-escalation of political polarization and hate speech.

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