Hannah Arendt Quote

"In politics, love is a stranger, and when it intrudes upon it nothing is being achieved except hypocrisy. All the characteristics you stress in the Negro people: their beauty, their capacity for joy, their warmth, and their humanity, are well-known characteristics of all oppressed people. They grow out of suffering and they are the proudest possession of all pariahs. Unfortunately, they have never survived the hour of liberation by even five minutes. Hatred and love belong together, and they are both destructive; you can afford them only in private and, as a people, only so long as you are not free."

by:	Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American political theorist, escaped Nazi Germany
Source:	Letter to James Baldwin (21 November 1962).
Rating:
Categories:	Hypocrisy, Happiness, Beauty, Humanity, Oppression, Suffering, Liberty, Hatred, Love
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I'm not quite sure how to rate this. To me, it is a rollercoaster of agreement then disagreement. It is accurate that a body politic in a representative republic of individual sovereigns is based on law and rights, as averse to emotion, religious dogmas and tenets and such as is love and hate. AND; the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land does exemplify the illegally implemented foundation and reasoning of a supposed love and realized hate. WHILE; I would set forth that charity, beauty, warmth and a capacity for extending a hand of humanity are attributes of those who love and abide liberty.  -- Mike, Norwalk
The ordinarily astute Ms. Arendt's definition of Love was in definite need of refinement.  -- Patrick Henry, Red Hill      1
I like "All the characteristics you stress in the Negro people: their beauty, their capacity for joy, their warmth, and their humanity, are well-known characteristics of all oppressed people. They grow out of suffering and they are the proudest possession of all pariahs."  -- E Archer, NYC
I don't understand this quote, and would like to say  love is never, ever destructive. Also, a people who really understands freedom can love.  -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown
I suppose the quote's context might reveal the apparent paradox in Arendt's definition of love and hate, both being destructive — but they are destructive of opposite things. To paraphrase, "A free people as a whole cannot afford hatred or love" because a house divided against itself cannot stand, and we cannot all share the same loves or hatreds or preferences or desires.  To love everything (or hate everything) or tolerate everything would ultimately result in the destruction of what is the public good.  Love the sinner but hate the sin would be reduced to love the sinner and the sins, leading to a people of self-delusion. To stand with the ones you love and against that which threatens them is to take a side.  Their is no honor in total surrender to evil.  Sometimes you have to fight, whether fueled by love or hatred.  -- E Archer, NYC

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