Are love and hate opposites?

[Shiki 5,853]

This question has always been kind of interesting to me. 

 

It's always kind of piqued my interest when I heard someone say that love and hate were nearly the same, because it didn't make sense to me, but I think after a while, I've begun to understand those people better. 

 

I don't really know how to word what I'm thinking, so I'll just leave it simple. I would say it's a situational kind of thing.

 

The two can be easily confused if, say, a lover were to do something horrible to the other. That victim partner may think they "hate" that person, but they may not... I don't know how to say what I mean, so I'd rather just hear everyone else's two cents.

[Zygen 6,065]

I dunno I've always thought of them as opposite honestly. If you love someone you don't hate them. Both can't really be present to me.

 

You can maybe do "hateful" things to the person you love, but you don't feel hate for someone you love at the same time as you feel love.

 

Therefore I find them opposites.

 

I may not be looking very deep into this though. Personally it doesn't matter much to me, i understand the definition of both and thats all I've ever really needed to know .

[Champion RD92 8,653]

I'm pretty sure that love and hate are definitely opposites. The meaning of love and the meaning of hate are the opposite of each other, I don't know how else I could possibly explain it.

[NeverAgain653289he32 285]

Honestly I believe that they are complete opposites. An example would be if you love Fluttershy, and love and hate are almost the same thing or identical you hate her (why would you do that  ). There is love hate relationships where you hate them and love them at different times, that's probably where the idea roots from.

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Love is the opposite of indifference.

Hate is also the opposite of indifference. 

Love and hate are polar opposite forms of interest (be it positive or negative).

Edited March 30, 2013 by AtomicBassCannon

[Stratos 109]

Love and hate twist around each other like braided dough.  When heated, they expand and mix.  Love and hate overlap more than we'd like to think.

[Friendship_Cannon 1,676]

Love and Hate opposites? well, in the original meaning, sure, yea, but you´re right, it can be very situational...

For the example of love, well that´s hard to talk about. Love makes us loose our mind, I´ve seen friends who were deeply in love being confused about their feelings a lot...

To me (I am fairly unexperienced) hate and love are two things that can live in one mind the same time, but will probably destroy it (if they are deep feels) for both take a lot of power.

I hated a lot of people, for various, and more or less legit reasons...

Since I became a Brony I tryed to turn this hate (not into love), but at least into respect. I can´t imagine to hate anyone anymore, and it´s nothing I wanna do ever again. It might take me long, but because of that, Love and Hate are nearly the opposite to me...

Again, my lack of experience could be responsible for this.

[Shiki 5,853]

I'm pretty sure that love and hate are definitely opposites. The meaning of love and the meaning of hate are the opposite of each other, I don't know how else I could possibly explain it.

Essentially, the argument here would be this:

 

 

Love is the opposite of indifference.

Hate is also the opposite of indifference. 

Love and hate are polar opposite forms of interest (be it positive or negative).

The fact that we're talking about emotions, which are so completely obscure, doesn't help. 

They're not like mathematics, where if a = b and b = c, c = a. Things are not cut and dry with emotions, which is why I thought this topic would be good for some deeper, insightful discussion. 

[Apocalyptic_Unicorn 240]

I've always thought of love and hate as two sides of the same coin, but pretty much opposites. I like to think of it like a meter, with anything above zero being positive (like, love etc), and anything in the minus numbers being negative (dislike, hate etc). 

[Limey 524]

Love and hate can both be labeled as one thing: passion. Usually, the love of one thing will lead to the hatred of another. You love your family, and would hate anyone who would try to do harm to them, and even you didn't hate them personally, you would hate the fact that your family was hurt.

[JrmiRadd 20]

Love and Hate are very similar, They are both feelings that can bring Happiness, Pain, Sadness, And passion.  They are so closely related that I'd say they are the two closest emotions. The true opposite of love would have to be indifference. Love is an often passionate feeling, and so is hate, but Indifference is feeling the opposite of passion, it's, for lack of a better word, Neutral

[Betez 1,734]

I do consider them to be opposites, but I don't know if they're necesarilly polar opposites.

 

In my opinion, this is one of those really deep and confusing questions, that doesn't really have one solid answer.

[Cocodrillo 1,565]

Depends on the kind of love.

There is that one love that is so close to the hate, there's just a tiny border between these two.

And there is another, that can go along with hate just well.

Then there's the one that has nothing to do with hate and will never let the hate come to her place, not even a little.

[Scootalove 10,684]

Love and Hate are definitely opposites.

 

Love is like a flowing cool river, that will allow anyone to swim in the river and can accept anyone to it's santuary.

 

Hate is like a burning fire, it has no forgiveness or remorse and it keeps anyone away from it's surroundings.

 

Love and Hate are two different elements, and I always thought they would be different from each other meaning they are different for a certain purpose.

[Twilight Circuits 603]

I'm afraid it's actually fear that is the polar opposite of love. Hate comes in a close second. Why is fear the polar opposite? Because you can fear anything, but you can't hate everything.

[Dzastur 1,719]

If they aren't, those guys in prison with "love" and "hate" tattoed on their knuckles have some painful ink removal surgery in their futures...

[. eris . 1,661]

 

 

I'm afraid it's actually fear that is the polar opposite of love. Hate comes in a close second. Why is fear the polar opposite? Because you can fear anything, but you can't hate everything.

 

That's quite an interesting school of thought. I've always thought that selfishness was the polar opposite of love. Two people cannot be in love if they are selfish, for love for another requires some element of selflessness. And I believe it's possible to hate everything, even yourself and your thoughts. While I've never been afflicted with such a depressing notion, I think it is possible to despise everything you see and experience.

 

[Cocodrillo 1,565]

Ad what I said before:

I've been told that a person doesn't hate me, just some stuff that I do.

I've been told that other person hates me so much that he loves me.

I've been told that some other person sees the stuff that someone could hate as something positive. And that he couldn't possibly hate something about me.

 

Probably that's why I said the stuff before. It's all about the experience.

 

 

Because you can fear anything, but you can't hate everything.

You can.

 

 

 

 I've always thought that selfishness was the polar opposite of love.

 

I have to disagree. "Selfishness" is a kind of love too.. a love for yourself.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Cocodrillo

[Twilight Circuits 603]

 

 

 

That's quite an interesting school of thought. I've always thought that selfishness was the polar opposite of love. Two people cannot be in love if they are selfish, for love for another requires some element of selflessness. And I believe it's possible to hate everything, even yourself and your thoughts. While I've never been afflicted with such a depressing notion, I think it is possible to despise everything you see and experience.

 

We're talking about the emotional spectrum here. You can still hate something and not have it effect your behavior unless you chose to. But fear will always alter your behavior one way or another. Fear can actually prevent you from learning love, but love cannot prevent you from learning fear.

[Dzastur 1,719]

Fire and Ice - Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

[Inactive01 5,298]

I heard one person say the following about this topic:

 

"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference." If you love something a lot, you also want to express hate towards a character that clearly is not good and demand either improvement from the other person or will work together to alleviate.

[Shanks 10,811]

Yes they are opposites, love creates, sustains gives and strengthens while hate destroys, tears down and weakens. But in nature even opposite can attract and overlap each other, having harm come to a loved can inspire hate for example.

[Titan Rising 2,156]

The way I view things, love is what brings and holds people together.  Hate tears people apart and brings you into loneliness.  In this way I suppose hate could also be called indifference to others or yourself, or perhaps complete self interest.  So yes, I would call them opposites.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Titan Rising

[Crispy 5,563]

They are opposite directions with a very common origin.  They are similar in that they are rooted in passion.

 

So, it's both.  Worlds away and inches apart.

[~Sole~ 852]

Ever heard of a love hate relationship? Its possible to love someone and hate them too, just listin to 3 days grace: I hate everything about you, for more instructions. But seriously though, Emotions are not as black and white as love only and hate only, people have layers of emotions about everything, its not normal to feel only one emotion towards something/someone, just one is stronger then the rest. Most people will likely call me crazy, but its true. (This sounds like a good letter to celestia actually)