Conversations That Matter: A prescription for fighting hate
Credit to Author: Massey Padgham| Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2019 01:39:41 +0000
To hate someone is a powerful emotional response that can easily escalate to violence. In his book, The Cure for Hate, former white supremacist Tony McAleer takes the reader inside his life story.
Born into an affluent Vancouver family, events led him to join some of the most notorious neo-Nazi groups in Canada and the US.
It is a book about a lonely young man attempting to find his place in the world – a world that did not understand his emotional needs — and subsequently every action and reaction to him was another push into an unimaginable life.
Once isolated from mainstream society, McAleer only had his new found community to bond with: a community that provided him with the sense of belonging he desperately wanted. He freely admits he made decisions that firmly placed him in that world, saying, “I am not offering excuses and I accept responsibility for what I did.”
Along the way, his beliefs changed. The journey away from hate was a long and arduous one.
His book breaks down stereotypes and offers piercing insights into how regular people are drawn to hate and violent extremism. Most importantly, “ The Cure for Hate” offers insight into the long and challenging path out of that world.
We invited Tony McAleer, one of the founders of Life After Hate, to join us for a Conversation That Matters about his mission to help people leave hate groups.
Conversations That Matter is a partner program for the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. The production of this program is made possible thanks to the support of the following and viewers like you. Please become a Patreon subscriber and support the production of this program, with a $1 pledge here.