THE ANATOMY OF HATE (AND IT'S RELATIONSHIP TO POETRY) - Tom Woody's Blog

One dictionary definition of hate is this: To dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest. 

A while back I posted a blog titled: Paranoia and the mob mentality. Here are a few quotes from that blog: "Admins as well as others... have acknowledged that AI checkers are unreliable. Still, despite this admission, some have suggested taking it upon themselves to be the self-appointed guardians against the intrusion of AI poetry on Poetry Soup."

This led to the warning: "...If this movement is permitted to continue, Poetry Soup will become a site filled with paranoia and accusations, marginalizations and ostracisms of poets suspected of using AI whether the accusations are true or not."

To be clear, those who utilize AI poetry generators and then pretend the poetry to be their own are both dishonest and deceptive. To plagiarize another poets' work is even worse. But is it possible to hate the wrongdoing and still love the wrongdoer? 

Religious poems have always been accepted by site administrators, but not so religious blogs. Too bad, because many Bible principles could be cited to demonstrate that yes, it is possible to still show love to those in error. So rather than quote Scripture an appeal will be made to what might be considered common decency, or a common sense of morality. 

In the world hate proliferates, often resulting in violence. Anyone familiar with the news as well as world history can confirm such. But does it have to proliferate here among those who dream of a better world to come, a world where tolerance and respect for others is the norm and not the exception? 

Targeting fellow poets who may or may not thave committed some infraction is hateful and should never be supported. On the other hand, discussing a problem without targeting individuals can lead to healthy debate and hopefully, resolution. 

I fear Poetry Soup has become a self-fulfilled prophecy, ie, that paranoia and the mob mentality have already taken hold. Still, trends can be reversed. Love destroys hate every day of the week. I call on all Soupers to rise to the higher calling and to prevail. Otherwise, we shall surely continue in a downward spiral...

TW