"Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -- MLK
(Full quote below)
I tell you that I love.
You say that I should hate Brietbart, and Steve Bannon, and Fox News. I tell you that I love.
You say that I should hate Trump. I tell you that I love.
You say that I should hate Nazis. I tell you that I love.
You say that I should hate myself, because I don't hate enough. I tell you that I love.
You say that I should hate what my weak lack of hatred has created; that my inability to hate is what normalizes the other haters. I tell you that I love.
You scream, and foam at the mouth, and drive me ever harder to hate, and hate more. You cajole, and suggest. You pull out all your logic and knowledge in defense of hate. I tell you that I love.
Now it is me that you hate. Now you want me to hate you back. I tell you that I love.
I love you. I love me. I love Breitbart. I even love "Nazis", because I know that each Nazi is actually just a human. I do not love Nazis more than I love the people they hurt. I love them all equally, which is to say infinitely. I love those who call me naive. I love immigrants, and African-Americans, and American-Americans. I love those who call me friend. I love those who call me a racist because I don't hate the right people at the right time. I love those who say my love is just a privilege; that if I truly understood how awful the world is, I would not love. I love my parents and I love my neighbors. I love and love and love.
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.