Using word "hate" in American English?

Question

Having lived in the USA for several years I've noticed that Americans use the word "hate" a lot. What do they mean? Do they have hate emotion attached when they use this word? Or do they really mean "I don't like" when they say "I hate?" I use the word hate only when I really hate something.

Answer 1

You are very astute to note the diminishing of the meaning of the word "hate." Congratulations for only using that word on rare occasions. This is unfortunately part of the world we are increasingly becoming, where "hate" is often used to describe people that we don't agree with and as a means to drown out legitimate voices in our discourse. It's a form of thought control and censorship, typically employed by authoritarian regimes which is addressed very well in Orwell's "1984."