You joke but that logic actually makes the original phrase kinda moot now that I think about it. Because on the one hand you’re right, you need to understand hate to practice it. But on the other hand there’s no need to hate yourself in order to hate someone else. For example a victim of a violent crime has no need to hate themselves and is morally justified in hating their aggressor. So by that logic, there’s also no intrinsic need to love yourself in order to love others either. Surely loving yourself would make you more experienced at loving others but it’s not really a prerequisite like the phrase wants to make it…
You joke but that logic actually makes the original phrase kinda moot now that I think about it. Because on the one hand you’re right, you need to understand hate to practice it. But on the other hand there’s no need to hate yourself in order to hate someone else. For example a victim of a violent crime has no need to hate themselves and is morally justified in hating their aggressor. So by that logic, there’s also no intrinsic need to love yourself in order to love others either. Surely loving yourself would make you more experienced at loving others but it’s not really a prerequisite like the phrase wants to make it…
In real life, victims of any crime do blame (and sometimes hate) themselves for being victimized.