The Amount of Hate in the World

I long for the days before I was addicted to social media. Back then, I could breathe easier, having some small hope in humanity. Today, though, I see more hate than I can personally tolerate. And it comes in all forms: racism (all types, it's more than the popular flavor of it), jealousy, and vulgarity (and no, I'm not talking about George Carlin's favorite words list here).

We all participate in hate in some form or another. We have biases and prejudices, especially if we think we don't or think our prejudices are "justified". Moral self righteousness is not reserved for just the overly religious, trust me. An atheist friend of mine once told me how he was perfectly "just" in hating all Christians because of how they all push their views down his throat, apparently simply by existing. I read an online rant about a year ago written by a fellow "fat" woman railing against a "fatter" chick sneaking a candy bar in the bathroom. She felt, because I asked, that she had the right to judge fat ppl because she was also a fat person and that girl in the bathroom was setting us all back by propagating the stereotype we suffer from. And she was serious.

I read a lot of comments on a blog that was titled something to the effect of "funny texts of financial struggle". People were losing their s**t because these texts were about "blowing money" and not about any real struggle. I posed a question that went unanswered, if they were about real financial struggles, why were you looking for something funny, are you all a******s? I fully expected the texts to be about blowing money or whatnot, things like "the credit card bill arrived and it appears ... thick" / "Don't open that. I love you." Yet apparently the evil in us wanted to click on this blog and find REAL financial dire straits and laugh our asses off at them.

It's amazing how we don't allow ourselves to see how wrong our way of thinking really is sometimes. Take a writing about the militia drama going on in our country. Granted, a black group may have been dealt with more harshly given historical events we can cite, but when you litter your writing with red neck references, you are showing your own racism. It doesn't invalidate your claims of a double standard, but if you feel your racism is justified because of racism done to you (either personally or as a group), you're wrong. Period. You have become the very thing you hate and wanted to eradicate in the world. Congratulations. Hell, if I had thought that way, then I'd be the most racist person on the planet for what I endured as a kindergartner at a sleep over; I was their entertainment, the "white devil", to give you some context.

Our own hate is sometimes something we are blind to. I am no exception trust me. Look at the memes of "real men love meat not bones". I used to buy into that until I realized I was only trying to raise myself up at another group of women' expense and that, to me, isn't good nor is it logical. If being thin doesn't make them better than me, then logically my being bigger cannot make me better than them either. It's a pretty simple truth really, but no one seems to be able to stop themselves and really look at themselves anymore. Are we really that busy?

The thing is, if someone has the courage to point out your flawed thinking to you, actually examine it. If you knee jerk with a hateful response, you're doubly wrong and on top of that, you've stopped growing. If you allow yourself self righteousness and related arrogance, you are part of the problem you are railing against. Period. The more you try to justify it, the more the truth can just tear it down. You don't need that kind of exercise, you need cardio! Work on your heart because that is the only thing that can heal hate.

And no, I don't think I am better than you because I can see this stuff. I am sad you don't see it, not smug. I find it sad that hate can so easily put blinders on our eyes and manipulate the entirety of our lives. Humanity was not designed (nor did it evolve, whatever you believe) to thrive on hate. We feed on it surely but it's like eating candy bars instead of real food. We are gorging yet nutritionally starving. Stop. We all need to just stop.

Reviews

[Chris]

I needed THIS one ...today. Really. And it isn't about agreeing or disagreeing - it's all in a moment-by-moment perception of "NOW". Existence-living-relationships-competition-rages (of ALL the sorts), frustrations, irritations, self-conceptualizations... and an encyclopedia of other ameliorating terms and aggrandizements.

While listening to this my mind paused and caught a breath... thanks.

[KLMazon]

I am glad I so soon returned the favor here. Your other review on The Void provided similar for me today.

[Lyn Anderson]

I LOVE THIS. Social media is the new evil, in a lot of ways -- yes, the latest round of fat shaming comes to mind -- and on it goes. I agree. I can't hate the skinny b*tch if she's not allowed to hate the fat b*tch -- and all the other fat b*tches are not allowed to hate me because I am not AS FAT as them. It's frigging ridiculous. You can't justify one kind of hate because someone hates you. That just doesn't make sense.

[KLMazon]

amen. Unfortunately people have this concept of moral selfrighteousness that helps them justify how they treat others. And this is entirely without analyzing the newest divisive tool known as privilege. I could write a twenty page complexity of thought on that alone.