Today we remember Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher born on this date in 1844. Although the Nietzschean influence is often supposed to be fascistic and anti-Semitic, historians lay much of the blame for that reputation at the door of his sister. Literary executor Elizabeth Nietzsche-Forster twisted many of her brother's words (and forged still other words) in an effort to make her brother's views conform to those of her husband, a chauvinist, anti-Semite who had committed suicide after his efforts to create an Aryan colony in Paraguay failed.
Nihilistic as many of Nietzsche's views were, we can still turn to him—one of world's most influential thinkers—as we attempt to make sense of today's world. For instance, in Nietzsche's opinion, "convictions are more dangerous enemies of the truth than lies."
If convictions are dangerous enemies of the truth, then where does hate fit into the picture? According to Nietzsche, hate does not result from holding different opinions, but from something else. "One does not hate," wrote the philosopher, "as long as one has a low esteem of someone, but only when one esteems him as an equal or a superior."
What should a person do with hate? Nietzsche didn't assume retribution was the correct response. In fact, he advised his readers to distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.