Stop Hatin'

We say this nowadays to mean "don't be jealous" -- "stop hatin'." But it looks like traditional hatin' is spreading faster than VD in a bordello. First, Dr. George Tiller, then Stephen Johns, both gunned down in the most unexpected of places for no reason other than hate.

Since when did taking up arms and shooting people you hate based on race, religion, or political beliefs become acceptable? What made Richard Pryor's "Saturday Night Live" song, "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun And Kill All the Whities I See" so humorous at the time was that it was so absurd. Blanket hatred was so unacceptable that anyone who would foment it was considered some kind of weird eccentric worth laughing at, a caricature of sorts.

I think it's time that we make people uncomfortable in their prejudices. It's so easy for prejudices and stereotypes to creep in unchallenged as seemingly minor slights against a particular group unrepresented in the conversation. Maybe we all need to "smoke out" hate by calling ourselves and others on these unchallenged prejudices and stereotypes, even at the risk of being called "PC." Lord knows we could all be called worse. And if it means giving hatred no place to fester and grow free from exposure, so be it.

Stop hatin'. The traditional kind, that is.