Hate Speech

Given much of what's in the news this week, it seems appropriate for me to rerun this post from March of 2016. If you object, you must hate America…

A phrase I keep seeing in political discourse is that So-and-So "hates America." It's a great thing to accuse someone of because it sounds awful, it's vague enough to apply to anyone and there's no way they can disprove it. Is it a cheap shot? Of course. That's the whole point of it. And unless you have a video of them saying "I hate America" (which you probably don't), it's grossly unfair.

Donald Trump keeps saying "Islam hates America." There's no mention of America in the Qur'an, and plenty of folks who practice Islam have worked long and hard to get to this country and sure act happy to be here. But it's probably a good thing to say if you want to whip up a real, not an imagined hate in retaliation to that premise.

Googling, you'll find a lot of bloggers saying that Hillary Clinton hates America or Ted Cruz hates America or Bernie Sanders hates America or Marco Rubio hates America. Apparently, you have to really hate America to want to run it.

Columnist Ben Stein keeps saying Barack Obama hates America. The other day, Stein said, "I don't think that there's much question he doesn't wish America well. He has a real strong hatred of America." What is the evidence of this? Near as I can tell, it's that Obama does things that Ben Stein doesn't like, though other Americans do…things like lowering unemployment or causing more people to have health insurance. If that doesn't demonstrate hatred of America, what does?

Right-wingers like to say the Left hates America. Since to them, "the Left" is probably anyone who votes Democratic, that's sometimes a majority of Americans who hate America. Maybe, like Mr. Stein, they mean that anyone who doesn't agree with their political agenda must hate America. I suspect they just aren't fond of the idea that there is an opposition party, which I always thought was the basic premise of America.

I've decided to try and promote the concept that anyone who accuses someone else of hating America must hate America. I don't have a real strong explanation as to how that tracks but no one seems to need one to hurl the "hates America" charge. Also, people who don't read the books I write or watch the TV shows I write must hate America. That seems pretty obvious.

You may not agree with my view on this. If so, don't complain to me about it. Instead, do a little soul-searching. Ask yourself why it is you hate America.