Why all the Hate?

Do you want to know what I hate? I hate the hate. It seems by now in this day and age we would have come to a point that the differences between us would not matter. But still it is perpetuated in our society. I continue to hear people put down each other for no apparent reason except the fact they are Black, White, Hispanic, Mexican, Japanese, Oriental, Korean, Indian, Muslim, Jew, Arab, French, English, Irish, Russian, Canadian, the list goes on and on. Why? I just don’t understand. I even hear people putting themselves down. If you listen to rap music, you hear many racial slurs about their own people. Even in conversation I hear this black guy did this or this white guy did that or this Mexican over there did so and so. It is like me saying, "I went to eat out last night and this white girl waited on me." Who cares!? What does it matter if they were black or white or Mexican? Does it add to the content of what they are trying to say? Are they trying to reinforce a stereotype or start a new one?

Then you have all the jokes. Did you hear the one about the Jew, Muslim, and Christian that went downtown? There are jokes about women drivers, dumb blondes, male dominance, black jokes, white jokes, fat people, Polish people, etc. All of these jokes are rooted in hate and stereotypes. These jokes are never funny to the group of people they are demeaning. But still we perpetuate the hate.

Now I am by no means a saint in this regard. As old as I am I come from a time when it was more widespread than it is today, so I guess as a society it has gotten better. I believe that although I am sure that there are individuals and companies still that practice racism, it is not as wide spread today as it was. At least minorities are for the most part able to obtain jobs, go to movie theaters, eat at restaurants of their choice, and for the most part live their lives as they wish. We have come a long way.

It is good in important things like employment we have changed dramatically. However, if we could change our speech where we accept people for who they are and not single out and stereotype each other, we could find peace in this world. Once, in speaking with a friend of mine we started talking about how he acted differently around his own race and I didn’t understand why. It was then I realized and told him, “I never thought of you as being black, you have always just been my friend.” Why can’t we just be ourselves? Why can’t we accept each other for who they are? As John Lennon said, "All we are saying, is give peace a chance."

Here is an excellent video which helps describe and encourage embracing our diversity.



If you want to hate, how about hating inanimate objects like Facebook as in this video by Julian Smith from Nashville, Tennessee. It is Fantabulously Funny!