This essay conflates anger (a basic emotion that can arise in any unfair, unexpected, or hurtful situation, even if no one is responsible for the injury) with hate (an attitude toward another individual or group, usually because you believe that their offenses are deliberate, that they cannot be worked with, and that they deserve whatever ills befall them).

Being angry is how we notice that something is wrong. It is a form of energy that we can harness to begin to change the situation. If we were never angry, we wouldn’t care when we repeatedly got the short end of the stick, and we wouldn’t do anything to change that situation for ourselves or on behalf of someone else.

I am angry about attacks on human rights and environmental sustainability throughout the world right now. It has never occurred to me to hate the people who might carry some responsibility; hate seems irrelevant, a waste of energy, and not helpful to the cause. Those people may or may not be aware of what they’re doing. But I am angry about what’s happening. That’s what makes me move.