Richard Nixon was infamous for his enemies list. Frankly we all have
one. Sometimes closeted in our hearts; other times, splashed across our
headlines. I can't tell you the ones in your heart, but I probably share
many of the ones in our headlines.
Boston Fans Boycott Yankee
Games...Cub-Sox Rivalry Spills Into Street...Border Patrols Gun Down
Mexican Drug Lord...Cops Tangle With Protestors...Pentagon Warns China
About Naval Exercises. Lets admit it, the Bible itself is crowded with
enemies the chosen people are always being asked to smite. We are
advised that love is the most powerful human emotion, and yet what crowd
can't be ignited by pointing to an enemy. What enemy...? Whataya
got...!
An enemy is anyone perceived as a threat. Which can range
anywhere from a loud neighbor or loony mother-in-law all the way to
Hitler or Islam. But here's the quirky thing about enemies. If they
don't actually exist, we'll find reasons to create one.
Ask any
football coach. Nothing churns the blood like a good dose of high-fiving
hatred. Psychiatry has even shown how the hate card gets played in some
unusual ways. The resentment among the guys on campus trying to win a
date with the reluctant beauty queen....the sense of combat with the
audience as the backstage cast starts with the traditional "lets get out
there and kill 'em tonight'....not to mention the ancient Oedipal
complex in which son hates father in repressed love for mother.
Hallmark
and homilies rarely dedicate anything to the emotion of hate in us. Oh,
but its there. And it's exploited whenever some segment of the
population needs the support of our hatred. Say like the military
munitions complex which keeps its profits high by keeping the rest of us
hating someone enough to want more munitions. Kaiser, Hitler, Tojo,
Korea, Vietnam, and Hussein are over with; but don't relax, we've found
another one for you.
If you really need any enemy, my vote is for
the farmers who have fooled around with our tomatoes. Current breeding
has made them an appetizing bright red at the expense of their original
sweet taste. I hate that. These are the guys really worth hating...!
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