One of my buddy's and I have a super secret, ultra-exclusive, co-owned blog that we started to chronicle the stupidity of one our dear pals. Clearly, our indubitable fondness for this person is the source of all the blog's content and many a shared snickers. During a rare moment of uneasy conscience, we realized that this 'common interest' was in no insignificant way responsible for bringing my accomplice and me into a closer friendship. In a continuing moment of guilt and admission, we also remembered that we had had a comparable sink for our dislike and meanness even at the time when we first befriended each other. Not wanting to have to confront that hatred was one of the foundation stones of our friendship, in hasty and decided manner we moved on to other distractions (the idiot box, of course). But that realization has stayed on my head and I am certain that it has on hers (Why I think so, isn't relevant at the moment).
Hate is such a powerful emotion. It seems highly effective in getting people together to get things done- riots, terrorism, vandalism or general mob activities, all these seem to achieve their goal of destructions and chaos with high efficiency. It seems even more so when you notice that amount of effort that can go into trying to rally support for a good cause- climate control, wildlife protection, poverty eradication, education, etc., all to no avail. One recent piece of news on NY Times, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/online-hate-sites-grow-with-social-networks/?hpw, mentioned online hate sites had grown by 20% over the last year. Hatred just evolves to keep up or keep ahead of the times. It's definitely an industry leader in terms of market capitalization (impact on people's lives and property through the expression of an emotion times the number of people that simultaneously feel and express that emotion).
Maybe I mustn't feel sorry for my species or be dismayed by the reflection of our true faces, beneath the facade of civility. Maybe chaos is the natural order of things, and Hobbes is right, "People are just crazy."
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