Stopping “H” Speech in its Tracks

Stopping “H” Speech in its Tracks

 

I just read an interesting article in the new Southern Poverty Law Center Magazine by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers.  By way of introduction, his was the synagogue that was attacked on October 27th last year (Tree of Life).

 

He wrote that he has started treating the word “hate” the way we treat the “N” word and other words that incite and/or demean others.

 

By speaking the word outright, we appear to embrace it (or to endorse it), which leads to using it both indiscriminately (“I hate Mondays”) and in ways that incite violence against specific targets, fanning its flames and enlarging its influence. (“I hate illegals/Jews/Muslims/queers/feminists/etc.”)

 

I see his point, especially after reading the entire article.

 

The article starts by saying something commonsense and noncontroversial: “You would think that something a simplistic as The Golden Rule would be easily accepted by all human beings: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Simple. End of story. Move on. Alas, this is not the case.”

 

Myers goes on to mention the lie that the USA is “a melting pot.” Instead, it’s a series of silos, of “us” and “others”.

 

And because it is, we focus on our differences rather than on our commonalities, even though we have far more of the latter than of the former.

 

We all want “a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothing, a good education, affordable health care, good employment opportunities with benefits, a safe place to observe our faith…” and the list goes on.

 

It was two weeks after the attack on his synagogue that Rabbi Myers listed “hate” as another obscenity. He says the word doesn’t belong in public or private conversation.

 

It is our tone when we say the word that inadvertently incites others to violence. Not everyone has his or her anger management, racism, sexism, misogyny or xenophobia under control. Rage can erupt; all it takes is a little encouragement in some circles.

 

I’ve been guilty of saying I hate the current POTUS. Which isn’t true. I loathe the man’s policies, immorality, sexism, xenophobia, narcissism (and the list goes on!) but, in my heart of hearts, I feel sorry for the bastard. He is so twisted and unstable a human being, so insecure an infant, that he should elicit my pity and compassion, not  my wrath!

 

But because he and his handlers and enablers in Congress are in positions of power and influence, he’s a dangerous person and should be sequestered for the good of our nation and the world, as should his cult-like followers. His incendiary discourse incites people to violence and hatred of “the others” every hour of every day. Fox News works similarly.

 

Their sole goal is to sow discord and animosity, because a divided people can’t unify enough to insist on making the changes necessary that will allow us all to live decent lives as fellow Americans.

 

A united citizenry in these divided states of America would  create a far happier, healthier, safer place than where we’re living right now, so the plan is to keep us at each other’s throats, to weaken our power…

 

But the truth of the matter is that there are far more people, of all colors and creeds, wanting to live in peace here than there are people wanting to cause headaches and heartaches for others.

 

The only way to fight what we’re up against is with precision. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Hate cannot cast out hate. Only love can do that.”

 

That’s the ticket!

 

But by refusing to use the “H” word, we remind ourselves that it isn’t really hate we’re feeling. We’re feeling the concerted unraveling of decency and compassion. We’re feeling angry, and impotent, and frustrated, but those are a far cry from hate.

 

Hate is destructive. Love is constructive.

 

Yes, we need to resist those who hate, marginalize and seek to destroy other citizens and the immigrants who seek sanctuary from war-torn counties here. But we need to do it without losing sight of the love that drives us to take the actions we take. We don’t have to lower ourselves to the same negative passions that the fearful and the fear-mongers do.

 

We don’t need to hate anyone to overcome them. We need to nip our militarism in the bud and approach the inequities in our system at the polls, at protests, and with unending letters of our personal experiences to our (so-called) representatives in government.

 

We need to talk to our friends and relatives who have inherited notions of white supremacy from a lifetime of enjoying it without realizing it.

 

Myers concludes his article this way: (By eliminating the “H’ word from our vocabularies), “the psyche of all Americans will improve significantly with a continuous diet of goodness, relegating evil to the place where it belongs–out of sight and out of existence.”

 

“It must start by choosing our words carefully. I choose to eliminate the “H” word. What do you choose to do?”

 

It’s certainly a good start!