We live in a world with an endless history of hatred. There's no use pretending that things were ever better than they are now. White people hated Black people, so they enslaved them for centuries. People also hated Native Americans, so they enslaved and killed them, too. Nazis hated Jewish, Romani, homosexual, disabled, and other people, so they exterminated a great many of them. This is the history of the world: hate and fear fuels us. Hate fuels legislative measures in many governments. Hate fuels violence and discrimination. Hate fuels people to spend their time unproductively.
I don't profess to understand why people hate other people psychologically, nor am I trying to change minds. But in this day and age where hateful people shoot black people down for no reason, who prevent people from using the bathroom that matches their gender, who insist that certain people who love each other shouldn't have the right to marry....why are they wasting their time concerned with other people's rights?
People in the Westboro Baptist Church (or other anti-LGBTQ+ people) travel the country protesting the rights of LGBTQ+ people. They brave snow and rain to spread a hateful message. They leave their homes and families behind in an attempt to spread hate. They have children, pets, and homes, but they favor their mission of hatred over them. Why? Why do they spend time picketing strangers' funerals when they could be spending time with their kids? Sometimes I wonder if they really have any hobbies, like cars or painting or knitting, or if hatred is a hobby. Is that the best they can do with their lives?
A more recent event that should be on all of our minds happened in Charlottesville just weeks ago. White nationalists protested the removal of a statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee. The protest was entirely race-fueled. These weren't history buffs. These were racists. They were neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and generally hateful people. They chanted the Nazi slogan "Blood and soil" and the KKK slogan "You will not replace us." If that's not hate, what is? Many of the "protesters" were students. In all likelihood, they had homework to do. Studying to do. Relationships to maintain. Instead, on a Friday night, they chose to light up tiki torches and promote hate.
All hate is a waste of time. Whether you spend your days actively trying to block the rights of Black, brown, disabled, or LGBTQ+ people, or hating the Kardashians, you're wasting time. Still, I'd like to note that hating a group of people is different than hating the Kardashians, for example. You're less likely to interact with them than you are the aforementioned groups. So what do you do to manage your time well? You focus on something else. Instead of watching the Kardashians, you watch another reality show. I suggest Dog the Bounty Hunter. I'm not suggesting that hatred of innocent people is comparable to hating some celebrities, but both are a waste of time.
You have the right to dislike the Kardashians, but you don't have the right to harass them or other people for liking them. You also don't have the right to impede on the rights and livelihoods of people you're different from. People who don't threaten you or your livelihood in any way. Instead of spending time pushing discriminatory legislation or harassing people different from you are, focus on something else. Focus on your friends and family. Focus on a more productive hobby. Hate isn't a hobby. If it is your hobby, for the good of humankind, reevaluate your life choices. Life is too short to spend actively hating people that have nothing to do with you. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to coexist with differences. Sometimes it seems that hate is a fact of life, and one way to cope with it is to accept that some people have nothing better to do with their time.
Should we pity these people who spend their time actively hating? No. And we shouldn't stand by and ignore it. While it seems that there is no cure for hate, standing by and letting it happen is almost as counterproductive as hating. World peace is unachievable, at least in this century, but the least you can do for yourself and your world is to spend your time loving, not hating.
