People attack what they fear, and people fear a lot of things.

When life is going well, you have enough to meet your basic needs, and you are not threatened by the actions of others, it is easy to love your neighbor. It is when there is not enough food to go around, or when there is social unrest, or when the beliefs of others threaten your way of life, that you begin to defend your territory.

Unfortunately, these instincts are woven deeply into the fabric of our being. They are the result of millions of years of evolutionary pressures. If you study the brain, what you find out is that the brain has several layers. The layer which contains rational thought is called the Cerebral Cortex, and it is the newest part of the brain, having evolved most recently (in evolutionary time). The layer which contains base emotions such as hate and rage is called (colloquially) the reptilian brain, and it is one of the oldest parts of the brain.

This explains, in part, why humans can be so conflicted. Different parts of the brain sometimes disagree, and when this happens, the older parts of the brain take precedence. This is why normally sane, rational people can be so childish and irrational when they are emotionally agitated; the reptilian brain hijacks our higher brain functions.

Religious experience, by the way, takes place in some of the oldest parts of the brain, which is why people can feel so passionate about it, and why we fight wars over it.

How do we prosper? A popular quote, widely attributed to Einstein, says that "Problems cannot be solved by the same thinking used to create them." In other words, we must rise above our petty differences, and find more creative solutions.

The world has become smaller with the technological revolution. At one time we didn't know what happened in the next city until the milk man or the postman brought over news about the surrounding areas. Today we can find out what happened in Tibet within minutes of someone (a monk) in Tibet posting the news on the web.

This being so, if all the media conspired to focus on all the positive news only, (perhaps because it is more profitable), and completely ignored all the negative news the question would be rephrased "Why is there so much love in this world? Is there no evil out there anywhere?"

Vesuvius - that is exactly how I understand it as well.

How can we find inner peace? Let peace begin with me (wonderful hymn/thought). If you hug an enemy he disappears ... meditate upon that. (Try fighting while someone is hugging you-lol ) You will find your inner peace and inner peace is catching.

Where attention goes energy flows and we as a species ( with an exorbitant amount of help from the media ) put a lot of our attention on the negative events in the world. As Traveller pointed out if we were to expend the same amount of energy on the positve events and things that people do, then our perception of the world would change from it being a place of hate to a place of love. I think we actually do a disservice to ourselves and humanity as a whole when we buy into this negativity. The more we look within ourselves and endeavour to put our attention on the solution (and not the problem) the more we will come into contact with that inner peace which is our natural state - as Gandhi so rightly pointed out - we have to be the change we want to see. Self development is the greatest work we can ever do because until we are coming from a place of self realization we are not tapped into our true power and hence, cannot prosper. Spend time in meditation and self contemplation to access that inner peace.

This is a *really * good question when you think about it ... because few would question the assumption, as some answers have pointed out above.

Why don't we all spend one day taking note of just how many hateful people we meet ...

Now I am not a betting woman, but I reckon I would wager my whole inconsiderable fortune on the chances of you finding a majority of hateful people. I think you might find it even hard to find a handful.

And when I think about it.. I think the same would hold true it you tried this experiment in war torn third world countries!