{"id":8922,"date":"2026-05-21T00:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=8922"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:42:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T23:42:39","slug":"what-is-a-hater-economist-david-henderson-applies-orwells-1984-insights-about-how-authoritarians-abuse-language-to-demonize-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/what-is-a-hater-economist-david-henderson-applies-orwells-1984-insights-about-how-authoritarians-abuse-language-to-demonize-others\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat is a Hater?\u201d – Economist David Henderson applies Orwell\u2019s 1984 insights about how authoritarians abuse language to discount criticism and demonize others\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most chilling and distasteful aspects of the totalitarian dictatorship that George Orwell envisioned in Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/i> was the \u201ctwo-minute hate.\u201d
\n\"\"<\/a>Fuelled by State propaganda demonizing dissidents and alleged enemies, and reflecting the mob psychology of true believers manipulated by power-hungry rulers, the \u201ctwo-minute hate\u201d is the type of Reign of Terror phenomenon that no sane and decent person would wish to be part of – or be victimized by – in real life.<\/p>\n

Yet, increasingly in American and European politics and culture, extreme partisans of Left and Right indulge in hateful rhetoric while ironically accusing others of \u201chate\u201d – even when a bit of introspection and understanding of human behavior might reveal fewer people than one might think are actually motivated by that dark emotion.<\/p>\n

Referencing Orwell and his Prometheus Hall of Fame-winning classic Nineteen Eighty-Four,<\/em><\/a> libertarian economist David Henderson identifies the disturbing trend of using and abusing language to demonize anyone who holds differing views.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Is a Hater?,\u201d Henderson asks on his Substack column, I Blog to Differ.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I grew up, we used the word \u201chater\u201d to describe someone who hates. Seems obvious, right? But now the meaning has evolved. At first, it seemed to mean someone who was angry at someone. I\u2019m often angry at people; I rarely hate those same people,\u201d Henderson writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it seems to have evolved further to mean someone who is critical of someone or even critical of just the person\u2019s ideas or actions. I saw an instance of this in an X by Utah Senator Mike Lee recently. He wrote<\/a>: \u2018What will Trump\u2019s haters do if his tariff play brings country after country to the negotiating table, resulting in bilateral trade agreements that make U.S. trade more free than ever?\u2019<\/p>\n

“Maybe Lee was referring to Trump\u2019s actual haters, of whom there are millions. Who knows what they would do? They would probably keep hating.<\/p>\n

“Somehow, though, I have the uncomfortable feeling that Senator Lee would include me among the haters, simply because I\u2019m strongly critical of Trump\u2019s unilateral imposition of tariffs,\u201d Henderson writes.<\/p>\n

Always balanced and reasonable in his must-read Substack blog, Henderson rightly observes that such misuse of language is bipartisan – and offers examples.<\/p>\n

\u201cLanguage matters. The late Thomas Szasz stated<\/a>, \u201cIn the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
George Orwell (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhoever does the defining, it\u2019s important to get the definitions right,” Henderson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge Orwell pointed out that language affects thinking. If you keep calling a critic a \u201chater,\u201d at some point you may think, without any justification, that he hates you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bio note:<\/strong> David Henderson, who I first became acquainted with at a libertarian convention in San Francisco in the late 1970s, is a retired Canadian-born American economist and author.<\/p>\n

A research fellow at Stanford University\u2019s Hoover Institution since 1990, Henderson is an emeritus economics professor and served as a senior economist with the president\u2019s Council of Economic Advisers in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Free-market economist David Friedman (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He has written articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,<\/em> Barron\u2019s, Fortune,<\/em> and The Freeman<\/em> and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, the BBC and C-SPAN.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Among his books: The Joy of Freedom: An Economist\u2019s Odyssey, <\/i>his highly recommended autobiography; Making Great Decisions in Business and Life<\/i>; and (as editor) The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics<\/i> and The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.<\/i><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS:<\/b><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us!<\/b> To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future.<\/p>\n

In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg One of the most chilling and distasteful aspects of the totalitarian dictatorship that George Orwell envisioned in Nineteen Eighty-Four was the \u201ctwo-minute hate.\u201d Fuelled by State propaganda demonizing dissidents and alleged enemies, and reflecting the mob psychology of true believers manipulated by power-hungry rulers, the \u201ctwo-minute hate\u201d is the type of Reign … Continue reading \u201cWhat is a Hater?\u201d – Economist David Henderson applies Orwell\u2019s 1984 insights about how authoritarians abuse language to discount criticism and demonize others\u2028<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1585,1862],"tags":[58,2525,13,59,2596,2597,268,2595],"class_list":["post-8922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-in-the-news","category-george-orwell","tag-58","tag-david-henderson","tag-economics","tag-george-orwell","tag-hate-speech","tag-haters","tag-prometheus-hall-of-fame","tag-two-minute-hate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-2jU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8922"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8931,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions\/8931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}