Maybe it's just that I've been paying more attention now, or I just didn't recognize it in the past, but it seems that hatred is at an all-time high both in quantity and intensity.
It's hard for me to imagine, because I honestly don't hate anyone. At least using my own definition of hatred, which is despising an individual so thoroughly as to actually wish them ill.
Sure, there are a few people I've met in my life that I've disliked. Mainly because they were absolute jerks. My approach is very simple - I just make sure to stay as far away from them as possible. On one or two occasions the jerks have been co-workers, but even then I seemed able to distance myself from them except for when I was forced to interact. Then I refused to allow anything but brief conversations about the business at hand.
It's very strange to me that so many people seem to nurture a murderous hatred of George W. Bush. How can one hate so viciously someone they've never even met, and only know based on the image conjured of him by the news media?
Among public figures, I have to admit that I expect there's a special place in Hell reserved for one Bill Maher. He's one jerk I hope never to meet in person. But I do pray for him, because aside from being a jerk, I think he's just terribly misguided.
Those who hate the president accuse their conservative counterparts of hating his predecessor no less viscerally. I'd have to disagree - I never heard the most rabid of conservatives openly hope for Bill Clinton's assassination like the Bush haters do. Personally, I thought Clinton should have done the right thing after the Lewinsky mess and resigned. I was profoundly disappointed in what he did and how he demeaned the office, but never hated him.
Some people irritate me. They anger me, disappoint me, exasperate me. But I don't hate them for it. At most, they just make me sad; more for them than for myself.
Instead of hating each other, why can't we just disagree? I think we can disagree with each other strongly and vigorously without coming the the H word. Maybe now and then we can learn a little about each other.
Some of us will never like each other, but that beats hating each other.
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