I define blind hatred as a perpetual, and consciously sustained rage towards something. If you say “I will always love you” to someone you love unconditionally, then you say “I will always hate you” to someone who you hate blindly.

If love is the greatest and most noble human emotion, then blind hatred has to be the lowest and most base, because it is love’s polar opposite.

I make this statement because love allows understanding, philanthropy, inclusiveness, creativity and happiness to flourish.

Blind hatred fosters ignorance, misanthropy, exclusion, the urge to destroy, and ultimately, misery.

If everything I have said so far sounds god-awfully cliched, then it’s because it is. We hear this kind of statement ALL the time. We heard it in kindergarten, and we heard it in college. Everyone says it. A LOT. It’s a mantra.

But the reason we say it is because we are naturally hard-wired to hate. Evolution has hard-wired us to hate, to kill, to rape, to steal, to eat flesh, to form clans, to protect territories, and to despise the other. It’s only by denying these impulses that human civilization has been capable of anything other than destruction (although we are awesome at that, too.)

Naturally, the point I am trying to get at is that we should avoid blind hatred at all costs. But it’s tough when you or someone you know wakes up one day and finds out that, sure as shootin’, there is someone out there that hates them. All you can do is focus on the (hopefully) larger number of people who love you, and do what you can to not to make the hate any worse. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do usually to be hated less. If a group wants to stay closed off, and to hide their motivations and beliefs from those they have turned into the “other”, then there is not a lot the other can do. Live life, be happy, have fun.

Sorry if I have broken the usually good vibe on shambot with this relatively somber post. Also, I am, of course, discussing a specific set of events; so I apologize to anyone who has no idea what this is about.

Happy Bday Ben, Deedee, and Maggie. The 3 of you can now go drinking together!