Something got to me today. I was accused by someone as being filled with hatred. I did not get it and I still do not get it. I was going to show the actual dialogue of the Facebook conversation that lead to this accusation but I cannot. This is because it was in response to a post this person made and my responses thereof. By the time I went back to the post to capture the dialogue of our posts, I could no longer find the post. Obviously, the person in question posted that I would full of hate, waited to insure that I read it, and then unfriended me.
Here is the thing. I was making admittedly snarky remarks to his post. The post in question was a picture of a “Welcome to Idaho” sign that included an anti-California message. My remarks to this was that this was not surprising as this was the state that had harbored the White Supremists in the past. I know that was snarky but I was trying to get across the message that this sign, and subsequent posting, was hateful in itself.
His response was that he was surprised as where my mind went. I guess the sarcasm was not well received or it was not understood. In any case, I went further to explain that I did not like hatred in any fashion, even when it was masked in a funny manner. This was when I got a lengthy, explicit, posting from him about how I was filled with hatred; with a follow-up post that he would respond no more. I know that I am paraphrasing what I said but I am trying to be as honest as I can. I did not at any time express any hatred to him or anyone else in my posts. That he could construe these postings as such is worrisome. That he unfriended my is also disconcerting. Especially given our long-term acquaintance (over 55 years) and the fact that he is a minister.
But that does give me a change to state that I am a hater. I do not think I will do justice to the list of things that I hate but I decided to list the things that I know I hate:
- People who hurt children directly or inadvertently.
- This includes people who deny children medical help because of “religious”, “political”, or “moral” grounds.
- This also includes people who deny children access to educational opportunities for the same reasons.
- People who hurt or hate others because of their color or ethnicity.
- People who hurt or hate others because of their religion.
- I guess I have to have a caveat here. If there is a religious sect that teaches hatred or violence; I could hate them as well.
- People who attack or discriminate against others because of their sexual orientation.
- People who discriminate against anyone else that is not based on merit.
- People who make fun or disparage others.
- People who openly support any of the above while pretending not to be the same as them. You cannot condone this activity without being part of it.
You will notice that the things that I hate are generally based upon the individual actions of individuals. Oh, I make exceptions for hate-based groups that, by their very nature, contain individuals that meet the criteria that I outlined above. I do group them into a single category and do not bother to look at them as individuals. For instance, the very membership in the KKK or Aryan Nation or Taliban is enough for me to lump you into their form of hatred and thus I do not need to know your specific individual stand; now do I.
I think anyone reading this will also notice that the other key to this is that I hate people who hurt other people and who hate others for who they are and not what they are.
So yes, I am a hater. I am just picky about who I hate.
In short: if you want me to hate you, you have to do it the old fashioned way; you have to earn it.
