The Vile Virtues Of Hatred

It must be very comforting, to not only believe in God but convince yourself he’s consumed with hatred for the very same people you despise. That way, your hatred is not a moral failing to overcome, but a virtue to embrace and share with the world.

Of course this applies to atheists as well, only it’s not “God hates my enemies” but “any decent person does.” Maybe it’s my imagination, but I seem to see more virtuous hatred these days than ever before. Much of it’s addressed to either smokers or fatties, those disgusting people who foul our air and drive up our health-insurance costs and set a bad example for The Children. But there’s also the hatred of illegal immigrants (without them driving wages down, we’d all have rewarding, fulfilling, high-paying jobs and could afford to retire at 40). How dare they have the gall to want to make a better life for themselves rather than starve quietly and respectfully in their third-world hellhole of a home? How DARE anyone apply for a job with an American company if his mother’s legs weren’t in the United States when he emerged from between them?

But the hardest virtuous hatred to overcome has got to be that directed toward criminals. Not that I have much sympathy for those whose actions harm another, but it’s one thing to say “This man deserves to be locked away from society” and another thing altogether to say “And he deserves to be raped and beaten in prison, too. If an overzealous guard kills him, good riddance.”

And even that’s not enough. Connecticut’s among the growing number of states which says that if you’ve committed a crime, merely losing your liberty isn’t punishment enough; in some cases, they want you to reimburse the state for the cost of your punishment.

But this is virtuous in a fiscal-responsibility sort of way, and in no way meant to say “Fuck you, we’ve got the power and we’ll damned well use it, too.”

I expect to get some interesting hate mail over this piece.