7 Things: Intrigues #2 – Haters

I can’t say that I don’t get why people hate. Unfortunately. In the same way that I can’t say why spousal and child abuse numbers go up as income goes down. This world is crawling with people who – when their own chips are down – turn to the person nearest to them, or to a group of people who aren’t like them, and try to exert their own worth and authority.

I assume they think thoughts like –

‘I may be unemployed and live in a dump, but at least I’m better than some fuckin’ woman.’

OR

‘I may be a hypocrite and a liar and cheat on my wife, but at least I’m not queer.’

I don’t know that they think these thoughts, but these are the thoughts that I imagine they must think.

As far as religion goes, I sometimes think there’s a mentality of ‘For there to be good, there must be evil. So, with all the sinning that I know I do in private where no one else can see, for me to get into heaven, there must be people doing worse things than me. I know, atheists and gays, they’re the ones who will burn in hell! I’m in the clear!”

Again, I can only imagine.

Because while I can understand how hatred happens, I still don’t get it. I mean, it’s easy to have moments of animosity in everyday life. You’re going about your day, cruisin’ along in your automobile (your baby beside you at the wheel), and some jackturd suddenly cuts you off, or you’re standing in a line that someone jumps, or your idiot next door neighbor leaves his dog in the garage for three hours and it barks THE ENTIRE TIME. And, for a moment… or three hours… you think, ‘You’re an ass and I’m gonna do something to ya.’

But, then, you know what? You get over it. You may even have to say something to someone about their behavior, it may be impossible to hold it in, but, still, you get over it. Why? Because you are irritated by the person’s actions, you may even hate some part of them – their entitlement, their rudeness – but you don’t hate them. You can’t hate them. You don’t even know them.

And that’s my intrigue about true, righteous-indignation-inspired, guilt-free, full-fledged hatred. How can these people be so full of venom for people they don’t know? Even a snake doesn’t strike until someone imposes upon it. Of course, that’s the thing, I guess. Haters feel imposed upon by anything that they just don’t like. Even if it has absolutely nothing to do with them and no impact on their lives.

Lately, my theory about haters relies heavily on Darwin. It’s one of evolution.

The theory comes from the fact that I simply cannot comprehend how these “humans” are so damn inhuman. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that we are all one species.

Hatred and violence without imminent threat are survivalisms of the lowest caliber. Fearing things that aren’t like us is one of the greatest forms of cowardice. We humans may run the gamut of characteristics and personalities, as we seem to, or there could be true variations within our species. If we are one species – and I sometimes have my doubts – it seems to me that some of us must be more evolved than others.

There are those of us who acknowledge our primate origins and move beyond them, and those of us who feel divinely-crafted and still sling poop.