The Need To Hate. Essay, Research Paper

Some people have to hate. In my eyes, hatred does not come from being isolated, attacked, offended or unwanted integration. These are just the catalysts that fuel what already exists: ignorance, self-righteousness and hatred. No amount of education, protesting, counter-marching or talk-showing will change that.

Talk shows are a personal pet peeve of mine. I understand the need for entertainment. Unfortunately, the oblivious public is used to the television telling them what is news and what is important. Allow me to give you a brief example.

In 1998, a group of Indian tribes in Arizona petitioned to get the Squaw Peak freeway as well as Squaw Peek renamed. This was about the time the freeway was finished but the tribes found the continued use of the word “squaw” offensive. The word “squaw” was Arapaho slang for “vagina”. I cannot imagine a more demeaning term for a woman. What they were asking was to change the name on maps (that have to be updated every year anyway) and removed from signs. It was that easy. They got two blurbs buried in the evening news and local newspapers.

However, about that same time, a cab driver was offended by the new window dressing of Sky Harbor Airport entrance sign. The design (ironically enough, a Hopi design) offended him because the pattern looked like it spelled out KKK. In actuality, it looked like it spelled out KKKKKKKKKKKKK The cab driver was a black man.

The result of local involvement of some news stations, everyone heard about it. The sign was torn down and a new one built at a total cost of $9,000. It was “news” because the media told everybody that it was.

I don’t wish to point out any goofiness of this man’s claim nor do I want to belittle his feelings about the sign. If the sign truly showed KKK or a swastika, I would understand his feelings. It just amazed me how willing people are to make a change when they are told it’s wrong through the media. As insignificant as it seemed, because the media said it was important and something to worry about, then it became important and something to worry about.

The dissemination of information has done little to educate the masses and the more these talk shows “lay bare” the evils of hate groups, the more it inflames others to hate. If you’ve ever seen a show with the Klan featured, you will see the audience look on with loathing and disgust. The way of thinking becomes; as long as it’s against people like them, it’s OK for the audience to hate.

The destruction of these groups doesn’t lay in the “education” of the masses. Or the tearing down of these radical group’s ideologies. They will only yell louder. The solution is to quit saying that it is truly important to listen to them. Imagine a Klan rally where nobody but the Klan showed up. No news coverage, no anti-protestors, no cops needed. The power of their cause becomes weakened because of lack of interest.

Allow me to give a personal illustration. When I was a boy at age five, I stuttered badly. I still do sometimes. I remember when I would try to talk but it was difficult with the jeers and people finishing your sentences. Eventually, they would ignore me because it wasn’t important enough to listen to.

It wasn’t the teasing that made me stop talking. Teasing just made me believe they were jerks and that I was right. It wasn’t the fact that I was treated like an imbecile that made me stop talking. If they said I was stupid, I would harbor a hatred for them. What made me shut up was that nobody seemed to care what I had to say.

Likewise, if you make fun of a bigot or tell him he’s an idiot for believing what he does, he will “know” that he’s right and begin to hate you for opposing him. Only when he is disregarded will he lose his spark and eventually fade away.

Luckily, I was able to learn how to control my stuttering. I also learned that regardless of how they treated me, being dismissed as unimportant was the only thing that made me feel insignificant. Fighting bigotry shouldn’t mean you fight it. It should mean that you promote harmony and unanimity by your actions and your speech, not because you disagree with nitwits in white pointy hats.

Over the course of my research, I have seen in many white supremacists web sites. They uphold that any whites that don’t make the same stand they do are either too scared to be politically UN-correct or brainwashed by the “Jewish media”. They also state that any blacks that don’t like it should leave the country. I’ve never worried about responding to this logic and neither should you. To do so will only frustrate you. For me, it all boils down to is, “What is the truth?”