- Never ever respond.
That’s the hater’s goal.
To entrap you. Draw you into a conversation. Wherein you have to justify your complete existence. You can never ever win, furthermore their friends will pile on. Read if you must, but never acknowledge you’ve done so.
- Research the criticises.
Especially on Twitter.
See how many followers they have. Fewer than you, otherwise they wouldn’t bother to hate. Also, check their number of tweets. If someone’s tweet count is in the double-digit thousands, laugh and move on. First of all, almost no one is going to see their vitriol. Second, the reason they’re hating is to justify their existence. They’re looking for attention. Who else would waste so much time blasting their thoughts into the wilderness?
- Google the hater.
This usually makes you feel better.
Because you find out the hater is a loser. Because winners don’t have time to hate, they’re too busy trying to win.
- See it as a badge of honour.
If someone is criticising you, you’ve made it.
- Read it.
Anybody who says they don’t read the words of their critics is an optimistic pussy who is afraid of their shadow.
As the cliché goes, you can’t embrace the good without the bad, you can’t acknowledge the love without the hate. The truth is we’re all equal. Even if you’re winning it’s only temporary, on a scale that will cease to exist. Do it because you love it. Know that criticism comes with the territory.
- Don’t change who you are.
Then the haters have won.
I’m not saying you can’t learn anything from your critics, but the more successful you become, the more hating you’re subjected to, and the natural response is to pull back. Don’t do that. Then the essence of your art is eviscerated. People love you for that essence. Change for the haters and you’re disappointing the lovers.
- Have a sense of humour.
We all have a tone of voice.
We all have expressions we employ. We don’t like them to be pointed out, we don’t like to be reminded of them, but it’s the nature of society. If you can’t laugh at yourself, life is going to be tough. Then again, there’s no need to fall upon your sword in the face of a tsunami of hate. Laugh, then have a backbone. Because your backbone is part of your appeal.
- Understand the hater mentality.
They want to drag you down into the hole they’re in.
If you succumb, they stop hating, they’ve made you irrelevant and go on to hating someone else. Hating is not about you, but a frustration embodied in the hater that he or she is not beautiful, successful, winning, whatever. That’s all they’ve got, their hate. You’ve got so much more.
- Vitriol is no response.
If you must respond, and as #1 states above, you never should, so you’re breaking the number one rule, don’t use expletives and don’t shout.
Twist your language and become sarcastic, stating that the hater is correct, ultimately neutralising the hate. Or embrace the hate and acknowledge it, yes, I’m a worthless human being with no reason to exist, thanks for pointing that out. The hater is looking for a fight, if you’re not fighting, they move on to someone else.
- Haters are professionals.
Haters don’t hate once and then stop.
They hate and hate and hate and hate, because what they’re looking for is acknowledgement. It’s unreasonable, but it’s fact. See it as their problem, not yours.
