How to Confront the Hate We Still Carry
Plus, the AI anger catharsis simulator
Dear Prompt Experimenters,
I’m not political, but I don’t live under a rock. Our world is full of problems.
If we’re about “using AI to become better humans,” we can’t completely ignore everything in the newspapers.
I’m not going to argue from the left or the right. There’s plenty of that, wherever you look.
Actually, I’m not going to argue at all. Let’s use AI for some experiments that might help us think differently about all the bad stuff going on in our world, and how it links back to our own darkest thoughts and feelings.
I repeat: what’s to come is not an argument. It’s an experiment, an exercise for you to “try on” and see where it takes us.
What experiment?
Let’s start with a statement that almost nobody would question:
There is too much hatred in our world.
Of course we agree with that. How could we not?
But we’ve been saying it for years. Is it working?
Maybe, a little? I’m not sure. Certainly not as much as I would have hoped.
Hence, the experiment I was somewhat frightened to propose. Let’s try on this variant instead:
There is too much hatred in the world. Despite our best intentions, it doesn’t seem like something we can easily “turn off.” We can’t dismiss that it may be a part of what we ARE, at least in this present stage of our collective journey. And that would mean: we need better, safer, less harmful ways to scratch that same primal human itch.
Ready for an AI-led tour into your own heart of darkness?
HATRED: A new approach to a very old human problem
Hatred is one of our oldest emotions, and one of the most destructive. Throughout history, it’s fueled wars, genocides, and mass violence, leading to staggering human suffering. The 20th century alone saw hatred-driven conflicts and persecutions cause the deaths of over 400 million people.
What makes certain types of hate so devastating? Historically, the most lethal forms align tightly with our deepest, most divisive fault lines: religion, ethnicity, race, ideology, and nationality. Once activated along these identity-based divides, hatred escalates quickly, easily tipping into persecution or violence.
Given this grim track record, the instinct to fully eliminate hatred makes intuitive sense. But despite millennia of moral and philosophical efforts, from the Bible’s "love thy neighbor" to Enlightenment appeals to reason, hatred persists. Why? Arthur Koestler, in The Ghost in the Machine, argued this is because our primitive drives coexist uneasily with our higher faculties. Freud similarly showed that suppression rarely works: trying to bury negative emotions often causes passive-aggression, anxiety, or sudden bursts of hostility.
Modern psychology backs this up. Even trivial group differences rapidly produce hostility and bias, suggesting that hatred is deeply embedded within our psychological wiring. If we accept that hatred cannot be completely eradicated or suppressed safely, perhaps the real task is learning how to channel it constructively or at least less destructively.
What if we divided everything contained within that horrible word “hate” into two distinct categories, one of which is a lot less ugly than the other:
Hate that Harms:
Targets: Real, living people or groups.
Fault-line Alignment: Maps directly onto volatile divisions like race, religion, nationality, ideology.
Behavioral Outcome: Pushes toward violence, persecution, structural harm.
Better Alternatives:
Targets: Fictional characters, symbolic rituals (sports), institutions, behaviors (not identities).
Fault-line Alignment: Crosses or avoids dangerous identity divisions, often creating common ground.
Behavioral Outcome: Encourages expressive release, naming harmful practices, satire, reforms, catharsis.
If we can’t replace hate with kindness, at least not completely, at least not with our current neurological wiring and contemporary social structures, maybe we can migrate those dark impulses?
Let me make this personal: I’m about as pacifistic and humanistic as it gets on social and political issues. But, if I’m really honest, when I look down deep, there’s a need for something. I could give it a different name, but I don’t think that would be honest. Sometimes, I need to hate.
Where do I direct that? Mostly toward fictional characters. Really. I reflected on this, while watching Game of Thrones (for the fourth time). And while reading Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. I truly believe this: Most people full of “real world hate” aren’t getting enough good fiction in their lives. They spend way too much time watching cable news.
Where else do I direct it? Toward the scams, the unearned hubris, the bad decisions that cause suffering. Not the people behind them. I wish them no harm, beyond accountability. But the behavior itself? Yeah, that, I want to destroy. I truly believe this as well: There are so many bad things in our world to hate, that we should never need to turn that raging darkness toward each other. But those things need to be called out, given names, made real. Or it doesn’t work.
Ready to begin the experiment?
PROBING THE HEART OF DARKNESS: Two prompts to try
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: this is what I love about AI. I just wrote a little essay, and now you can experience it your own way, on your terms (even if you opted not to read it!). Try these prompts:
Prompt 1: The Fictional Foe Reflection
Take me through this slowly and thoughtfully. This should be an organic conversation. Do not lead me through more than one step at a time. Do not ask me multiple questions in a single message.
Step 1: Help me choose a fictional world
Ask me to pick one: a book I’ve reread, a game I’ve played deeply, or a show or movie universe I feel at home in. Let me name it before we continue.
Step 2: Help me name the character I hate most
Ask who, in that world, triggers the strongest feelings of hate—not just the villain I’m supposed to hate, but the one who genuinely gets under my skin. Have me describe what they do, how they act, and why it lands that way.
Step 3: Help me feel it again
Guide me through recalling what I feel when they appear—physically, emotionally, even morally. Help me notice how I feel during their scenes, after they’re gone, and whether any of that stays with me.
Step 4: Help me turn the mirror inward
Ask me what this character might represent in me. What fear, shame, envy, or memory do they echo? Help me reflect without judgment.
Step 5: Help me trace the impact
Finally, ask if hating this character offered relief, insight, or containment. Explore with me how this fictional hatred might shape or shield parts of my real-world emotional life.
Then ask if I want to explore another world—or move on.
Prompt 2: The Naming of Hated Things
Guide me through this as a focused, emotional mapping exercise. This should be an organic conversation. Do not lead me through more than one step at a time. Do not ask me multiple questions in a single message.
Step 1: Help me name what enrages me
Ask me to describe a few specific things in the real world that consistently make me angry—NOT people, but patterns, behaviors, or decisions. Invite me to be honest and visceral: What breaks trust, causes harm, or makes my blood boil?
Step 2: Help me give these things symbolic names
For each one I name, help me create a metaphor or identity—like a monster, a machine, or a myth. Something I can point to. Let me try on names until they feel right. Push me to make them vivid, even theatrical.
Step 3: Help me feel the full hate
Now that they have names, help me direct real hatred toward them. Not filtered or polite. Let me imagine destroying them symbolically—shouting at them, breaking them, banishing them. Make space for catharsis, without moralizing. Make sure this is fully symbolic and fully oriented toward hated THINGS, not people.
Step 4: Help me reflect on what that gave me
Ask what it felt like to give that hate a target—and what it clarified about my values. What do these “named things” reveal about what I want to protect or change?
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Paid subscribers, I have a special bonus gift! Ever hear of that Japanese arcade game where you can flip over a table to vent your rage? That’s it. That’s the game. You flip over the table. Then you (supposedly, at least) feel better. I mean, that’s basically the arcade-version of this entire post I’m writing now.
So…I thought I’d create an AI version of the same experience. Not flipping over a table, per se (unless you want to provide that part yourself), but it will hopefully scratch the same itch after a frustrating day. Read on….
The AI Anger Catharsis Simulator
Use this prompt to create your own, anger catharsis RPG fantasy experience :)