Hate has been on my mind this week. With the war between Israel and Hamas, the continued invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the election of the new Speaker of the House Johnson and his extreme fundamentalist views of the world, and the never ending saga of the former President and his lackeys. What is being done and said is, bluntly, hateful.
I’ve never understood true hate. As a teen, I used the word hate quite a bit, but not in a manner of true hate. Many of us say we hate certain foods, music, house styles, and such, but this is towards things not people. I’m talking about what seems true hate towards actual people. Not a disagreement about choices, innate traits, or actions, but hate to the point of literally wanting people hurt, tortured, or wiped off the face of the earth just for existing.
When Hamas and Arab nations say they want Israel not to exist, that’s hate. When Israel indiscriminately bomb an entire set of people as punishment for a very small segment of those people, that’s hate. When people of power believe it is their right to tell a person what they can and can’t do with their bodies, that’s hate. When religious fundamentalists and zealots want to outlaw and imprison groups of people for being born a certain way, that’s hate. When white nationalists feel free to kill a person of color and overthrow a government, that’s hate. When people feel it’s okay for a child to go hungry, a family to be without shelter, or for a gun to be more important than a life, that too is hate.
Why the hate?
I can’t speak to the world views, but I do know about things in the United States. Our constitution is very clear about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not for one, but for all. The basis of the U.S. is freedom. Freedom of religion. Freedom of assembly. Freedom of choice. Things that we’ve never lived up to fully, but there was a time when we continued to evolve to more fully live up to the vision of the Constitution and the founding of our nation. That time is not now.
This is why I’m often confused about the hate and become angry at the people propagating the hate. I’m most especially angry at the people who proclaim to be patriots and believers in the American dream, then do everything in their power to eliminate life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for people who don’t look like, act like, or believe in exactly the same things they do. Which brings me to what I ponder often.
Why the ignorance?
In fairness, maybe it isn’t ignorance. Maybe stupidity is the better word. Ignorance is the lack of information or knowledge. Stupidity is a lack of understanding, lack of intelligence, lack of reason, lack of wit, the lack of the ability to learn.
It can’t be ignorance as the information and knowledge is out there. Information and knowledge—facts—are in abundance. However, one has to have the ability to understand (discern), have intelligence (critically think), to reason (think logically), and have wit (mental sharpness), to have the ability to learn both from mistakes and successes, and to know when one is wrong and need to revise one’s thinking based on, yes, this word again, facts—not opinions, not commentary, not lies, but facts—a thing that is known or proved to be true. All of which leads to the most challenging question.
How do we move beyond hate and stupidity, or caring and accepting factual knowledge?
I wonder if we have gone so far down the hate and stupidity path that we’ve passed the tipping point. Have we reached the point where social media, lies wrapped as media, and failed institutions and elected officials have pushed us (and U.S.) away from caring for one another and for democracy that plutocracy (autocracy) is now inevitable. Has the fall of democracy gone from possible to probable, due to stupidity, which then leads to hate, because those in power want stupid and hate. They want these things to keep us divided and sheep being lead to the slaughter.
I know this a dark pessimist depressing place to think and be. Yet, each day of news and actions by people here in the U.S. and abroad, show us we are far and away down the path of darkness and loss of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness at home and across the globe.
Can we quell the surge? I’m less confident of this possibility with each day that passes.
What do you believe?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 