image credit: Found Animals/flikr creative commonsIt’s everywhere. Hate and more hate.

Am I right?

A couple of days ago I came across a Facebook post by a family member, one who is related to me by marriage. She was posting in response to the Charlie Kirk assassination. Here is her post:

“I hate democrats. Plain and simple. They are horrible, dangerous, DEADLY people.”

And her post was followed by two very bold red-faced hate emojis.

I decided to engage because, well, I couldn’t stop myself.

And here is the response I posted:“I am a Democrat. Do you hate me?My parents were Democrats. My children are Democrats. My friends are Democrats. No one of my acquaintance has ever pointed a gun at another person. Are we all worthy of hate?Of my extended family, 10% are Republican. I am happy to say that I do not hate any of them. I respect them and their beliefs.Let’s look at some facts. A recent study determined that 71% of extremist violence was conducted by right-wing extremists and 29% by left-wing extremists. Another fact: we have no idea what the ideology of the shooter is. We cannot label him a Democrat and by extension decide all Democrats are hate-filled shooters before we even have the facts. And even if he turns out to be a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, we cannot paint all Democrats with the same brush.Some dogs bite. Can we then say all dogs bite, and we should hate all dogs?This question was posed: “What happened to the Democrats of 30 years ago?”I pose the same question of Republicans. What happened to the “Compassionate Conservatism” of the Bush family? What happened to the morality and kindness of people like Mitt Romney? Would John Kasich have sneered on the campaign trail at the deadly bludgeoning of Nancy Pelosi’s elderly husband (by a right-wing extremist) the way Kari Lake did? And why did the Republicans blow up 500 tons of food at a cost of nearly one million dollars rather than send that food to starving children–particularly since that resource had already been approved by both parties?Every day I find myself more frightened of what is happening to our country. I am frightened by the erosion of the Constitution. I am frightened by the results of rhetoric and blame not based on fact or compassion. I am frightened that so many people today embrace prejudice and hate rather than logic and love.”So, readers, what do you think? How do you feel about hate and about those who embrace hate? As I put up this post today, I kept thinking about Hate Week in Orwell’s 1984 and the way the Party easily manipulated its citizens with hate.And then I got even more scared. 

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