So I got some hate mail...
Last week I referenced a joke that Bill Maher had made regarding the Kardashians. It was such a flippant comment that I can't even remember in what context it was said. Unfortunately, I made the "mistake" of quoting a "liberal comic who doesn't deserve to breathe," according to a listener.
Normally I don't react to mail of this nature. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But why is it that most people in this country spend so much effort on expressing feelings of hate, rather than that of love. (I'm not being a hippie about this. I do have a point, so stay with me, folks.) AND, are we, as a society, so wound up and ready for the attack, that all it takes is the mere mention of an opposing mind's NAME to cause a strike?
For example:
Bill Maher's comment was about the Kardashians. The letter sent to me had nothing to do with the Kardashians. It had nothing to do with people who are famous for, simply, being famous. It was laced with political propaganda about the liberal agenda, socialism, abortion laws, and the Christian right. It was dripping with threats of boycotting my show if I were ever to "be so liberal again." It was the email equivalent of torches and pitch-forks.
This person was on a witch hunt.
After staring at the computer screen for far too long hoping to find the words to reply to the email, I simply deleted it. No good could possibly come from trying to reason with someone who had jumped down my throat without being goaded. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a healthy debate, but there was going to be NOTHING healthy about this would-be conversation.
Why do so many people concentrate on hate?
Go to any blog about a popular television show, and you will find that a healthy percentage of members of that blog are trolls, people who HATE the show being discussed. They just can't wait to tell you how "lame" and "contrived" the last episode was, and how akin the fans are to sheep that would be so easily led by such a badly developed script.
The sad thing about this is, these trolls have chosen to spend their time watching something they hate. What a terrible existence that must be. The only pleasure they get from life is to sit in a chat room making fun of people who like something they don't because (as I've discovered through experience) they aren't happy people... and misery loves company. It's chic now to hate everything. It's in vogue to be jaded by television and music. It's the next big craze to jump off the bandwagon just because everyone else happens to like the bandwagon. What most of these trolls don't understand is that they are sheep as well, conforming to the newest of trends; apathy.
Trolls are everywhere, not just online. I'm sure you've met them. You are having a great day, every thing's coming up Milhouse, and suddenly someone comes along to stomp on your cloud. Maybe it isn't so obvious... maybe it's the guy in the mail room who says something condescending, like, "I'm glad you're happy. I have to figure out how I'm paying rent this month after all the car trouble I've had."
Thanks for that, Mr. Positive.
Another major Buzz-Kill personality? The extreme wingers - the people who are so far left or so far right that rather than build a healthy knowledge of their standing, they would rather build and arsenal of lies and propaganda against the opposing side. I have had so many discussions with people like this who, when you ask them questions regarding the political party they most identify with, the only response they can muster is something against the opposing party. They concentrate so much on what they hate that they can't hold on to positive facts that may help their argument.
Silly.
After ranting on the show about that email, I received plenty of emails from other listeners - most of whom were so excited to share what they like, what they love, what makes them happy, what gets them out of bed in the morning.
It was refreshing.
Thank you to all who had such kind things to say.
I'll leave you with this; we all drink from the same (proverbial) well. We get out of that well what we put in. It's important that we all concentrate on putting a little love in the water. If we spent as much time on the positive as we do the negative (generally), we could start to heal the worlds ills that make us so mad in the first place.
Please. Comment on this blog. Let me know what makes you happy. Let's start a revolution of positivity.
:)
Before I'm accused of being a Negative Nancy, I feel obligated to post this disclaimer; I am not a pessimist, nor an optimist. I am a realist. I don't see the glass as half full, or half empty. I simply acknowledge that there exists a glass and it has liquid in it. 
Take, for example, "The Breakfast Club," arguably one of the best coming-of-age stories to ever grace the technicolor screen. It's so real and believable... right up until the last fifteen minutes, when the Princess ends up with the Criminal, the Jock ends up with the Art Girl, and the Geek is left to write the essay (okay, the Geek writing the essay is the ONLY believable part of the ending). That wouldn't have happened in real life. In real life, the Princess would have ended up with the Jock while continuing to snub the Criminal, the Art Girl would have ended up with the Geek and the two of them would have written the essay together, while the Criminal would have walked home, alone, without the earring in his ear, because he doesn't need any of them - he's got his own friends. That is the ugly truth.
What about Janeane Garofalo as a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac in "The Truth about Cats and Dogs"? She thinks she's too ugly to get the man of her dreams, so she has her hot, yet vapid, neighbor pretend to be her. The object of Garofalo's affections figures it out, but in the end, everything goes Janeane's way. That's a load of horse pucky! In real life, Hotty McPerfectguy would have realized the twisted plot of these two women, thought they were BOTH insane, and married the dental hygienist that his friend's girlfriend told him he "just had to meet."
So I got some hate mail... 
