The Love of Hate

Love Trumps Hate? Seriously? Who are the real haters?

Here are some recent quotes (a very short list):

Madonna “Yes, I have thought many times about blowing up the White House.”
Johnny Depp: “How long has it been since an actor has assassinated a President? …Maybe it’s time.”
Phil Montag (Nebraska Dem Party executive): I’m glad he (Scalise) was shot. Let him f***ing die.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “These cuts are blood money. People will die. The Republican Party is the death party.”
Tom Perez, DNC chairman: “Trump doesn’t give a shit about the people.”
Some Asshole Professor (I forgot his name and he’s not worth the time to research it): “Republicans should be lined up and shot…”

There’s so much more where these came from. Fill in the list if you please.

: Good actor, annoying person, Johnny Depp

So, how is this different than calling one’s opponents racists, homophobes, Islamophobes, misogynists, bigots, haters, Nazis, fascists, xenophobes, terrorists and extremists? It’s not.

I can’t imagine that anyone but a serial killer could be that horrible and deplorable. But it gets worse. The hatred is magnified through the lens of ignorance. Some people even scream racism at someone who simply wants protection from Islamist terrorists and illegal immigrants.

It’s strange. Last time I checked, Islam is not a race. And illegal invaders and poachers are not a race either. But, whatever. It’s probably because of my white privilege that I just don’t get it.

Despite the leftist vitriol, and disregarding a few right wing nut jobs, the defenders of conservatism seldom claim their opponents are evil, let alone that they don’t deserve to live. They just stick to the old American way of political discourse. They call their detractors clueless and irresponsible. They talk about silly things like “The American Dream”. They dare to proclaim “American Exceptionalism”. Horrible!

To leftists, this is an outrage. This is how they respond:

How outdated and out of touch with modernity! How dare they uphold the evil American political tradition!
They are so hopelessly nationalistic and patriarchal.
America is an evil, failed nation; the epitome of colonialist oppression.
Don’t they care about anybody but the rich, white supremacists?
They are tools of capitalist moguls.
These people are simply the worst of the worst. They must be stopped (read eliminated).

The very real concern is, when will the aggregate effect of these hateful statements actually bring harm to someone? Oh, wait. That’s already happened. Just ask Steve Scalise. Nevermind. I guess we’re already there.

Meanwhile, from the leadership of the opposition we hear nothing. Where are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, mayors, governors and party leaders, speaking out against the hateful rhetoric and violence? Instead, they encourage people to “resist”. What an emotionally charged, and cleverly formulated call to action. These things don’t happen by accident.

The people who could calm this storm won’t say a word. To them, their sacred goals justify the means, so diminishing the power of the resistance is counterproductive. In their eyes, it’s an acceptable price to pay for their benevolent revolution.

America is THAT bad, apparently.