Hatred, Hatred Everywhere
America reached its current destination because of hatred.
Class hatred.
Racial, ethnic, and religious hatred.
We are a country consumed by hate.
We have always been a fount of hatred.
Despite all the high-minded ideals, the “liberty and justice for all” rhetoric, was in fact, just rhetoric.
The same men that wrote fine sounding words and created enviable documents did so while owning other human beings, believed that women were inferior to men, and despite saying that “all men are created equal,” believed only White, landowning men were equal, and everyone else who wasn’t White, male, and landowning were inferior.
We base our laws and standards on White men who lived almost two hundred and fifty years ago.
What could possibly go wrong?
Racism, sexism, and classism were encoded in this nation’s fiber.
When noble ideals clash with reality, reality must be altered.
When America was first in the throes of its immigration swell, the concept of race was nonexistent.
Afterwards, the first and only people who were considered White were White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
Native Americans weren’t White.
Blacks certainly weren’t White.
Brown and Yellow-skinned people weren’t White.
This is not a surprise.
What might surprise you is that Italians weren’t considered White.
Neither were the Irish.
Both were mostly Catholic, which invalidated their claims to being Caucasian.
Jewish people weren’t White.
But as the ranks of non-White immigrants continued to swell, the definition of White had to become more expansive.
Italians, Irish, and Jews were grandfathered into the White race.
The hatred that existed in the birthplaces of White immigrants traveled with them.
Catholic hatred.
Protestant hatred.
Jewish hatred.
The hatred of Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow people.
If we know nothing else about history, we know that hatred travels.
It is a virus worse than COVID, worse than any disease found in nature.
As with the rest of the world, hatred found a home in America.
One doesn’t have to look far for recent examples of hatred.
Ann Coulter, whose name had been missing for too long in the news to suit her purposes, made up for lost time when she pronounced that America “didn’t kill enough Indians.”
One would like to think that this is Coulter’s last stand, but there is little hope that she will keep her ignorant pronouncements to herself.
Actor John Cusack has drawn fire for the latest of several social media posts targeting Israel and the Gaza conflict. His controversial posts have prominently featured the Star of David and have been roundly condemned as anti-Semitic.
It is fine to oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza. It is the opposite of fine to use the Star of David to promote anti-Jewish sentiments.
A public figure who has recently endured large amounts of prejudiced and racist comments is Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani is the democratic socialist who is the presumptive Democratic nominee for the New York City’s mayoral race.
There are three reasons why Mamdani inspires so much invective.
One reason is he is South Asian.
A second reason is he is Muslim.
A third reason is he is a democratic socialist.
Even one of those is enough to cause certain people’s heads to spin around like Linda Blair in the Exorcist.
Three reasons are enough to cause spontaneous combustion.
Mamdani’s horrifically radical agenda includes:
· Free bus service citywide
· Rent freezes and greater landlord accountability
· City-owned grocery stores that feature affordable goods
· Universal childcare for children aged six weeks to five years
· Tripling production of rent-stabilized, union-built housing
The same faithful lackeys of the president were quick to project their shock and horror at his victory.
Laura Loomer, an advisor to the president said that Mamdani is “supported by terrorists,” and “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.”
If that wasn’t enough, she declared:
“If the Muslim Brotherhood would have been designated as a terrorist org, @ZohranKMamdani could have been prevented from running for office. Get ready for Muslims to start committing jihad all over New York.”
Charlie Kirk, the darling of bro-racists, added his hateful rhetoric to the mix:
“24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.”
Loomer and Kirk’s rantings about terrorism conveniently ignore the fact that most of America’s terrorist activities are committed by White Christian males, the same White Christian males who voted for the president.
(Moreover, until the Ku Klux Klan is officially designated a terrorist organization, no one should be added to the list).
Mamdani’s campaign is sure to rally racists, Islamophobes, and reactionaries who would rather America be destroyed by fascism than their preferred boogeyman, socialism.
Socialism, a political philosophy that most who fear it could not accurately define it to save their lives, just as they can’t define “woke” or “DEI.”
Hatred has brought America to the end of its world dominance.
Every kind of hatred played a part in the nation’s destruction.
Class hatred – Billionaires and millionaires receiving government intervention to cut their taxes while burdening the poor and middle classes with reduced paid-in benefits, fewer choices in healthcare and government protections, and an economy ravaged by unnecessary tariffs.
Sectarian hatred – Pseudo Christians who hate in the name of Jesus.
Racial hatred – White Supremacists emboldened by having one of their own in the White House.
Gender hatred – White men making America safe for the Handmaid’s Tale.
Otherism hatred – Hatred of the LGBTQIA+ community, non-White immigrants, pro-science people, liberals, progressives, Democrats, Socialists and Communists, and any group that doesn’t look, think, or believe like them.
The current regime is the world’s most dynamic proponent of hatred. It is sowing seeds here and abroad that must one day be reaped.
How sorrowful that day of reaping will be may depend on how much of a world is left in hatred’s wake.