Hate in the Political Arena Fanning the Flames

When we are harmed whether through acts of violence or betrayal our first reaction is to lash out, over time without a way to redirect our anger it will grow becoming an all encompassing emotion, hate. It is natural to lash out after we have been personally hurt; we are after all only human. It is one thing when we are personally harmed, when we are personally betrayed, when our life is changed by the actions of another person, whether thoughtless or malicious. Acts of individual violence or duplicity leave scars in their wake.

Whether hate is focused on an individual for a personal offense or on a group as in racial hatred, it must be continuously nourished. Without focus, someone blowing on the embers it is impossible to prolong the emotion of hate over an extended period. Hate simply is not a natural human emotion. Hate over time destroys a person or a nation, burning them up from the inside. Hate leaves no room for natural emotions such as compassion, love, and care.

What we are witnessing in the US today is very much a form of hate, though masked with political speech and religious talking points it is nonetheless hate. Hate speech, fear mongering; call it what you will it plays to the very worst in us the lowest common denominator. We have seen it all before but we don’t seem to learn. Behind every tree is a “fill in the blank,” this fear mongering in the past has led this country to many shameful low points, lest we forget;

•  Executive Order 9066 Internment of Japanese Americans, 1942 – 1945

• Joe McCarthy and his campaign against Communism in the early, 1950 – 1954 ruining many lives along the way
• Jim Crow Laws, enacted throughout the southern states of the US, 1876 - 1965
• Iraq War, a direct result of fear mongering and lies, 2003 – 2010

• Ten years and counting in Afghanistan

When do we stop the fear mongering, the hate? When do we stop allowing media personalities to yell fire in a crowded theater? When do we ask ourselves, what has history taught us if not to be wary of hate mongers. These are valid questions given our history as a nation, valid given our most recent history of Domestic Terrorism, which we seem to turn a blind eye to when it is convenient or doesn’t fit our world vision. Acts of terrorism, of hate such as:

• Alfred P. Murrah Building, Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995 carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry McNichols.
• Centennial Olympic Park Bombing, Atlanta, Georgia, July 27, 1996 Eric Rudolph. He was ultimately charged with four bombings, while best known for the Centennial bombing, he also bombed two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar.
• In the past twenty years, there have been eight murders of doctors and employees of Clinics that provide for women’s health, including abortions. The most recent of these Dr. George Tiller, shot as he served as an usher in church while has family and friends watched in horror. All of these deaths carried out by members of Christian churches or groups that believed they were serving God’s will. The murder of Dr. Tiller came after months of media figure, Bill O’Reilly making incendiary and false claims regarding the doctor’s medical practice.

We have allowed hate to fester. As a nation, we have taken hate to our breast and nurtured it. We have turned a blind eye to the most degenerate Civil Rights transgressions, the most egregious acts of aggression against autonomous nations, even cheered at the death, torture and maiming of those who we name enemy simply because they believe differently, dress differently, organize their society differently, call God differently than what the majority within our nation do. Unspoken, not publically acknowledged yet the truth remains we are a nation that remains filled with “privileged” mentality. We remain a nation with a “Manifest Destiny” mentality.

Skin privilege, gender privilege, sex privilege, class privilege; many of us will vote against our best interest to maintain our perceived privileges. We will deny the truth to maintain our belief that somehow we have the right to these privileges simply because of an accident of birth, sperm luck. We will use code words “lazy”, “stupid”, “terrorist” to describe others not like us, not deserving of our privilege. What we are really saying is not White, not Male, not Christian not Heterosexual. We are happy to fear; happy to hate indiscriminately anything that we perceive as different from us and potentially threatening to our privilege. How many wealthy people do you think are holding signs at a political rally decrying the single payer health care systems? How many wealthy people do you think are holding a sign at a political rally demanding the federal government “keep their hands off Medicare”? Other than politicians, how many wealthy people do you believe speaking against federal funding for our failing school systems? How many of the truly wealthy do you believe are fighting to correct our failed trade agreements and bring back jobs?

The real answer is the truly wealthy of this nation, do not care. Their privilege is protected it is those with the least to lose, the middle class and poor who protect their privilege the hardest and are most susceptible to the messages of hate. This is the group that is the most easily influenced by the hate mongers. This is the group that is the most vulnerable, has already lost the most, is already slipping toward forever poverty; yet continues to buy what the snake oil salesmen of slick politicians and smarmy religious leaders are selling; that is “hate the others not like you, they are taking your privilege”.

Yelling “Fire” in a theater is no different then what is happening today as the talking heads and other hacks accuse our President and others of being different from “us.” Of being Muslim, being not American, being Socialist. We have seen this all before, the accusations the finger pointing. We have seen the government come to a screeching halt as those on one side determine they will bring “morals” into the public venue, as they decry our national decay. As their vitriolic speech heats the airwaves, they touch our deepest fears, aimed at our greatest insecurities we are sent to our knees begging for pity and asking those who would do us the greatest harm to save us in our darkest hour.

Hate, yes we are all too prepared to hate. Do we ask ourselves what the foundation of our hate is? Do we seek to uncover the similarities between today’s key messages and those of the past? Have we taken a close look at the messages spewed by ersatz news agencies, splinter political parties and pseudo religious organizations that have catapulted into our social psyches? A group such as the Moral Majority prominent throughout the 1980’s whose key messages and agenda were:

• The outlawing of abortion;
• Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment;
• Opposition to any and all recognition of Homosexuals as equal members within society;
• Enforcement of “traditional family values”;
• Censorship of any media outlet promoting an anti-family value agenda, which the Moral Majority leaders would identify.

Sound familiar? It should compare this set of standards to the more recent emergence of the Tea Party and their moral stance and standards. Compare this to what is being espoused today by those who aligned themselves with the Moral Majority of past times. Consider the leaders of the new Tea Party with past masters of the Moral Majority, such luminaries as Newt Gingrich, or the more recently ascended Sarah Palin, Mark Williams, Michelle Bachman, or even Christine O’Donnell. From the sidelines blowing on the embers, keeping the fires of fear and hate burning bright are the likes of Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Beck, and Savage among the more virulent who continue to fan the flames, continue to point to our differences and keep our fears alive. The incomprehensible manner in which facts and fiction have been woven together, creating a “Truth,” an atmosphere of fear and hate lasting nearly a decade.

Hate, an incomprehensible and inhuman emotion that cannot be sustained without the constant bombardment of messages. We have seen the rise of Hate Groups calling themselves political Parties, Religious organizations, Militias, and Think Tanks, and worse News Outlets. As a nation, we have floundered, lost our way, forgotten our principals. We are allowing ourselves to be defined by vitriolic minorities whose fear and hateful spiels have become “facts” rather than opinions.

Wake Up America. Hate cannot become the only thing that defines us as a nation. Fear cannot be our legacy. Ignorance cannot be what we leave for the next generation.