I HAVE always been the kind of person that scoffed at the term “hater”. At one point I actually had my profile pic on WhatsApp with a man looking up to the heavens saying: “God protect me from my haters”, and God replied: “Big man, nuhbody ain studying you!”
It was Oprah who said: “If you ain’t got haters, you could as well be dead. It is a direct result of winning.” Katt Williams stated: “If you got 12 haters now and you’re doing the right thing, by summer you will have 16.”
In the most simplified form, a hater is someone who hates on another person.
The self-hater
This type of hater is not pleased with his or her own life. They unfortunately feel like underachievers and can only feel validated upon hearing of another person’s misfortune. Examples of these types may be your unmarried friend who calls incessantly and rejoices whenever they hear about another friend having a divorce.
I would never forget when my show first started and I asked a friend to forward the flier to his contacts. Two days later, I asked for his feedback on the response. Although it was generally good I would never forget one response he got from one particular young woman. She stated that she would never watch the show because “watching that nonsense gonna only highlight that I ain doing nothing with my life”.
Self-haters’ hating is and should never be taken seriously because it is a reflection of how they feel about themselves.
The “I hate everything!” hater
I stole this term from Steve Harvey and his successful book: Act Like A Success, Think Like A Success. This type of hater is the kind of person who is perpetually negative. They are the person in your team at work who will most definitely highlight all of the reasons why a new project will never work.
Do you know the saying: “If yuh ain got nuttin good tuh say, hush yuh mout”? Well, if life depended on this statement, these people would never speak. These are the family members, friends and co-workers you do not tell when you are quitting your job, taking a major life adventure or doing anything which is deemed unconventional.
The anonymous hater
The anonymous haters are those people who secretly hate. The reason for their hate is not important. What is interesting about these people is the way they hate. These are the persons that anonymously submit unkind and untrue comments to gossip sites.
These are also the kinds of people that will never reveal how they truly feel about you to your face. You can bet all the money that they will either smile to your face or be as quiet as a church mouse when you approach them. The anonymous hater is both unproductive and cowardice.
The non-hater
This is my favourite kind of hater. Why? Simply because these people are not haters. Everyone that criticises you or your efforts is not a hater. Everybody is not out to “get you” or “doesn’t want you to win” according to the famous Snapchat motivational speaker, DJ Khaled.
Many people will often give you constructive criticism. The smartest people always know when and how to differentiate. The non-hater will only affect those of us who are over-sensitive and have persecution complexes.
In conclusion, the best thing you can take from this article is to spread a bit more love and a little less hate. Life is too short.
Toni Thorne is a young entrepreneur and World Economic Forum Global Shaper who loves global youth culture, a great debate and living in paradise. Email:Tonithorne@hotmail.com
