The Hate Project

I really believe that this exists.   Maybe no one has named it.  And maybe the organizers would claim I'm wrong, but for the past approximately 30 years, I think a great social experiment has taken place in the United States.  I'm calling it the hate project.

In 1980, CNN - the Cable News Network began 24 hour news coverage.   There really isn't that much news people are interested in, so a lot of discussion of and opinion about news was included in the broadcast.

With the success of CNN, other 24 hour news networks were born.  Soon, to differentiate themselves, and to gain market share, the news outlets targeted certain demographic groups.  Since the fastest way to make friends (or gain market share) is to identify a common enemy, each network seemed to find a way to tell us who was responsible for whatever was wrong with our lives.  In other words, who to hate.

This wasn't done overtly at all.  Most of the hate mongers start out like drug dealers.   They give you something that makes you feel good.   Then they seduce you with half truths, then you're hooked, and they amp up the dosage until you are a shell of who you were before.

In 1988, the Hate Project really took off when Rush Limbaugh's radio program went into national syndication.  Behaving like an immature, unthinking, unfeeling buffoon became popular, and many rushed into the ratings war to prove they too could hate with impunity.  Instead of articulate, informed, debate; ridiculing anyone who didn't agree with you became the norm, and the in-your-face ridicule was often followed up with additional name calling after the caller or guest was no longer on the line.  Civility became an arcane ideal, and very difficult to find on talk radio or on 24 hour news stations.

And unfortunately, many previously nice, decent, thinking Americans descended into caricatures of themselves, and parrot the hate speak and half truths as if they are absolute truths.  We seem to have forgotten that there is no "them"; just individual humans trying to make our way through life on the planet.

I have to admit, it is a constant struggle for me to not hate the hate-mongers.  But if I fall into that trap, I am part of the problem.

So, I'm going to ask everyone reading this blog to do me a favor.   Stop hating.  Turn off the haters and hate mongers and don't support them.  Don't post hateful things on social media.   If you have a positive data point to support a position you believe in, by all means share it.   But calling anyone who doesn't agree with you stupid, or demonizing the poor, or glorifying revenge, those just bring bad karma to the universe.

Try as hard as you can to see everyone as what they are, an individual who should be treated with kindness and given human dignity.   No matter what an individual has done, you are diminished when you are unkind, not the individual receiving your meanness.

We can be a great nation again.   But we have to stop the yelling and name calling and start having reasonable discussions about how to become a great nation again.   We need to agree to disagree, and find a compromise position that everyone can live with, even if no one likes it.

I know very few people who would proudly say at the end of the day, "Well, I've been cruel and hurtful to at least 100 people today.  I did good."  But I know many people who post memes, and quotes and links on social media that are cruel and hurtful to many that see them.

Think about it.  Think about turning off the radio or television, or signing off social media when something makes you angry enough to want to hate someone.

Think about what positive proactive thing you can do about making the world a better place.

We need a love project.  And it has to start with each one of us.