Enough with the Hate, Already!

Recently, I read an article written by a Jewish man who praised Israel, condemned Hamas, including all Palestinians, and basically condemned anyone who had anything bad to say about his homeland or what they have done and are doing.  He excused all actions that had been taken in Gaza and went into depth about why they were justified in doing whatever they chose to do, how it was not their fault, and how the Palestinian people’s problems were brought about by themselves and their government.  In short, according to him, Israel was the good guy, and Palestine was the bad guy, when in reality there is more wrong on both sides than right on either.

Just as disturbing were the comments.  I kept looking for a voice of reason, but all I saw was either people slamming him, his ideas, and everything and everyone connected to Israel, or justifying him and his ideas and condemning everything and everyone connected to Palestine.  Everyone was either anti-Palestinian or anti-Israeli.  There was no neutral ground to be found.  There was no one who pointed out the failures and atrocities on both sides.  Everyone picked a side to support and a side to condemn.

I commented that I was equally horrified by the kidnapping and murder of Jewish children and civilians by Hamas that began this most recent war and the murdering of innocent children and civilians by the Israeli government in Gaza.  Children, regardless of birth place or ancestry are innocent, and it’s never okay to sacrifice them in any number, for any reason.  Addressing the killing of innocent people by killing more innocent people is not okay, and it’s definitely not a solution.  “They started it,” is not a justification for what is happening, whether you’re going back to the more recent kidnappings, murders, and bombings or whether you go back to when Israel became its own country or whether you go back thousands of years, if you can even pinpoint a beginning to the conflicts in the Middle East. 

People defend their hatred and dismiss those of us who point out the blame on both sides by stating that we can’t possibly understand the damage caused if we haven’t lived it, and to a certain extent, they are right.  I don’t know what it’s like to suffer atrocities because of my ancestry on a large scale, and I thank God I’ve never lived in a war zone, but does that make it wrong to believe that no one should have to live that kind of life?  Is it naïve to believe there’s a better way?  I don’t think so.  Maybe it’s people who haven’t had to survive these kinds of horrors who can more easily see the fault on both sides, and there is always fault on both sides of any conflict.

On a less dramatic scale, I also read an article about how MAGA people were getting their due as more and more people condemn and ostracize them, from restaurants who refused to serve people wearing MAGA hats and T-shirts to family members who’ve disowned each other.  And as far as the author was concerned, if you voted for Trump, you qualified as MAGA, whether you agreed with all of this administration’s policies, or not, and you deserved everything bad that would ever happen to you for the rest of your life. 

The overall view was that if you voted for Trump, you were a bigoted, uneducated, stupid, self-centered, entitled, white supremacist blah, blah.  The author basically condemned an entire generation for today’s problems as well as for today’s President (boomers).  The article and those comments were so full of anger, hatred, and bigotry, not to mention blatant stereotypes, there was nothing positive or hopeful to be found.  No mercy or forgiveness was encouraged, in fact, it was strongly discouraged.  People were on the edge of their seats waiting and so excited to see MAGA people suffer, and there was not an ounce of compassion to be offered.

If we’re not careful, this hatred showing up in words will eventually turn into hateful actions, and before you know it, we’ll by in a physical war with each other, not so different from the war in Gaza.  Meeting hatred with more hatred only leads to more hatred still, and hatred solves absolutely nothing.  Rather, it escalates the problems that already exist and adds even more. 

Consider this, guys.  We’re a nation split in two, at least on the surface.  If we decide to hate the half that voted for the opposite side, regardless of what side we favor, what will ever change?  How will we solve our problems?  How will we bring about sustainable change?  How will we evolve, instead of continuing to devolve?  If we hold onto our anger, how will we ever move forward?  We cannot move forward if we remain in a deadlock. 

The man who wrote the article condemning the hatred against Jews and Israel, couldn’t see his own hatred against the Palestinians.  He was able to condemn Hamas for kidnapping and killing innocent Jewish children and civilians, but he couldn’t see the horror in the killing of innocent Palestinians.  He was blinded by his hate.

The people who condemn the immigration policies causing so much suffering and persecution to immigrants, the cutting of humanitarian aid to others that is resulting in suffering and death in so many places, the tariff wars that are beginning to cause inflation at home, and the adoption of fascist principals and ideals are the same people who want to see Trump’s supporters condemned, persecuted and suffering, also.  Never mind the innocent people caught in the middle.  Never mind compassion or the hope that people will learn from their mistakes and see things from a different viewpoint or at least listen to other possibilities.  They just want to see them suffer.  They think they deserve to suffer, and they can’t wait until they do. They are blinded by their hate. 

Meeting hatred with more hatred only produces more hatred.  Aren’t you tired of hatred? 

People get pretty defensive right about now and want to justify their anger and hatred.  “But, Jodie, what about the people who voted Trump twice?”  “They don’t want to know the truth.”  “They’ve created their own reality and won’t listen to reason.”  “Why should I find compassion for them when they have no compassion for others?”  I’m not suggesting that you don’t have good reasons to be upset, because you do.  We all do!  However, if you never release that anger and open yourselves to compassion, nothing will ever change.  Solutions will not be found.  Change will not happen.  People will not be saved.  Things will not get better. 

Is it really worth holding on to the anger and hatred?  Will it help you or anyone else?  Will it fix anything?  No, it’ll just make everything worse.  It doesn’t help you, it doesn’t help others, and it doesn’t help the situation in any way, shape or form.  In fact, when all you can see is the anger and hatred, you’ve become part of the problem, and it has nothing to do with how you voted.  It has everything to do with not being able to move past your hatred and anger.  You expend all of your energy and effort into feeding those emotions, rather than seeking solutions.  Why should you have compassion for people who don’t know the meaning of the word?  Because the world needs more compassion.  If some people aren’t capable of giving it or choose not to, it’s up to the rest of us to step in and wield it like the weapon against hatred that it is. 

Not everyone who voted for Trump is a stupid, uneducated, racist, white supremacist asshole who wants to cram Christianity down your throat.  Not everyone who didn’t vote for Trump wants to take away privately owned guns, see women who are nine months pregnant get an abortion, authorize sex change operations for minors without their parents’ permission or knowledge, groom your children for pedophiles, or make everyone drive electric cars.  Use your brain power for something more than hate.  Entertain the idea, the possibility, that not everyone is like the extremists who are so loud and obnoxious in the media.  Pretty much all of us just want a better life, and we don’t know how to make that happen. 

One thing’s for certain, though.  As long as we’re fighting each other, we’ll never be able to fight the real problems or those who are behind them, and that’s exactly what the people in power want.  Divide and conquer.  Feed the hatred.  Find a scapegoat.  Distract redirect, and mislead.  Widen the gap.  Use our own fear and anger against us, so we’re more easily manipulated.  We make it easy for them to continue to serve themselves and leave us to the wolves, or more to the point, to each other.  If we don’t find a way to find some common ground, nothing is going to get better, and the powerful will only become more powerful.  WE are our own worst enemies, not each other, not the government, and not any foreign powers.  Go ahead and stew, if you want to, but that’s not going to solve anything. 

If the other political party takes control of anything after mid-terms or after the next election, if we’re still close to a 50/50 split, sustainable, positive change will still not happen regardless of a change in policies and politicians.  It’s not the politicians who are going to change things and make things better, it's the people, but we can’t do that until we stop hating and fighting each other.  If the “other side” doesn’t understand, if they’re part of the problem, the way to win them over and gain their cooperation is not through hatred, persecution, and anger.  That hasn’t worked in thousands of years, people! 

You think Trump supporters are going to apologize and change course knowing they’re going to be greeted with distain and condemnation regardless?  Would you? Do you think any dialogues are going to get started that way?  Let’s try to leave the judgment and finger pointing behind and start looking for a new direction that has at least the possibility of bringing more of us together, because if we stay this course, we’re heading for one dead end after another.  Isn’t that the definition of insanity?  Let’s stop spending so much time placing blame and instead start looking for real solutions.  Who cares who started it?  Obama’s fault, Biden’s fault, Trump’s fault, boomers’ fault, Democrats’, Republican’s, right, left, … sheesh, what a waste of time and energy.  Whatever and whoever got us to this point, this is where we are.  Let’s just deal with it.

Don’t focus on the words and actions of others.  Focus on your own words and actions.  You can’t control anyone but yourself, so start exercising some self-control, yeah?  Joy, hope, love, compassion, hatred, anger, fear, and blame are all choices we can make or decline.  They’re also habits.  You can become used to and comfortable with being happy or angry either one.  Whether anger is justified or not, it doesn’t feel good, does it?  You think it bothers the people you’re angry at that you’re losing peace of mind over them.  It absolutely does not.  In fact, when they see you angry, it makes their day. 

While you choose to wallow in your anger, you also choose to give them joy.  You lose, and they win.  Let’s get past this worthless, senseless cycle.  Discard your anger and regain your joy, not for anyone else’s sake but your own.  If enough of us can do that, maybe we can eventually begin to build bridges.  You don’t have to worry about whether or not others will be willing to do that, just make a choice to do it yourself. 

Blessings, all.