There is an awful lot of fuss about “hate” these days, as if you didn’t know. I don’t really understand it to be honest.
Personally I LOVE a lot of things, I dislike a lot of things. I’m indifferent to MOST things. But I HATE very little in the grand scheme of things.
If you listen to the “mainstream” you’d be led to believe that it’s an either/or world. Black or white. That is to say, if you don’t love then automatically you must HATE. I call bullshit on that one.
The truth of the matter, for me at least, is that unless we’re talking about something that directly affects me and mine I don’t really pay much attention or care about it. Sorry to disappoint.
I’m very much a live and let live kind of person. I’m weird and I know I’m weird, so I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. By the same token, I’m not going to agree with everyone or the mainstream in general. But that doesn’t mean I HATE the mainstream. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if I personally think their opinions are moronic. That doesn’t mean I hate them. Feel free to think I’m moronic. You won’t be the first or last in that regard. But you shouldn’t hate me for my opinions. Life is full of grey areas.
For example, I am a big admirer of art – painting for instance. I love the classics, Van Gough, et al and I love surrealism like Dali and Escher and even a lot of modern works. But if you paint a big square, monochromatic, on a canvas and try to pass it off as “Art”… well, not to me it isn’t. But that doesn’t mean I hate Art, or the artist of said monochromatic square. I just don’t like it or care about it. It’s not going to make me angry that it’s hanging in a gallery. I’m just going to ignore it and move on to what does interest me. Simple.
This is not to say you should accept or support ideas you don’t agree with. By the same ideal, you shouldn’t demand acceptance and support for all of yours either. A good idea can sell itself, you usually don’t need to force it upon others.
Reducing someone to one simple fact and then deciding to hate that person because of that one thing is beyond absurd. I’m sure there are exceptions to that, you know, for serial murderers, corrupt politicians, IRS agents, etc. but generally speaking most people are complex and don’t fit in to one little box.
For another example, you could say (vehemently) that I do in fact HATE the accordion. Its sound to my ears is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard, combined with a cat who’s tail has been stepped on. But that’s just me. I don’t hate accordion players for their terrible life choices, but I sure hate the sound of their instrument on a primal level. By extension, you could say I hate Tejano music, as it features the accordion prominently. But that by no means equates to hating Latino peoples. It means I most likely won’t attend an event that features Tejano music. That’s about it… I’m not going to go around demanding Tejano music be banned because I hate the accordion. I’m not going to scream “cultural appropriation!” <gasp!> because Tejano uses western European styles (polka, etc) as their base. I’m just going to move on to something I DO appreciate.
It feels like the media is trying to whip up this frenzy of hate, but if you look below the surface, most of it is hogwash.
Sure, there are certainly some idiots out there that will lay their blanket of hate over an entire group, whether it be racial, economic, religious, gender/orientation, whatever. In my opinion anyone like that is stunted at best and certainly not playing with a full deck. No matter what club/clique/organization/lifestyle you identify with, chances are there are some major differences between you and the rest of the people in your group. That’s life. That’s humanity. We all need to learn to not take ourselves so seriously, and more importantly not let the media lead you around by the nose, looking for a boogeyman behind every utterance and action.
I’d love to see everyone just calm down a bit. It’s OK, not everyone is going to like you or what you’re doing. It doesn’t mean they hate you. But trying to force your will on them, might make them turn that corner. And besides, hate is exhausting. It takes effort and dedication to TRULY hate someone. Talk about wasted energy! To quote someone I can’t recall: “Holding onto hate is like taking poison everyday, in hopes that someone else will die from it.” Wise words…
Another thing, and I say this as delicately as possible… Over-use of the word “hate” will eventually render it meaningless. Much like what happened with “racist” over the last few years. Now, because “racist” lost its power, it morphed into “white supremecy”, which has caused yet more friction, division and anger. But that’s a story for another day…
While I don’t believe for a nano-second that “words = violence”, words DO have power. Using them incorrectly diminishes that power and inflames people. Not a great habit to get into.
Just something to think about. Thanks for reading!
The Boring Old Man 