Americans love to hate.
I've seen and heard more hateful talk in the last twenty-four hours than I have in quite some time, and it has all surrounded President-Elect Obama. No, no, no. Don't misunderstand me. There are millions who act like this Obama is going to give us all monthly checks for $10,000, clean our gutters, and create Peace in the Middle East. But those who hate him, REALLY hate him, and mostly, what they hate is that other people don't hate Obama as much as they do.
Rush Limbaugh is apoplectic that people are inspired. Limbaugh keeps referring to Obama as the Messiah, tongue-in-cheek, and he berates Obama fans for "worshipping a man who has accomplished nothing." That's a fair point, but to quote D.L. Hughley when he was asked whether America was ready for a black man to be president:
"Have you seen what we've had for the last eight years? How could we screw up after that?"
Yes, Barack Obama has no accomplishments BEFORE his first day, Mr. Limbaugh. So sue him.
I will never understand the anger that our new president generates. I asked myself recently, "Why are Americans so hateful in politics?"
But after the Colts lost their playoff game against San Diego, I started reading the comments on the Indianapolis Star on-line version. It was some of the nastiest stuff you would ever read, and unlike politics, this is over A GAME!
I am a true blue Colts fan, and I have been since the early 3-13 years. But if you rip on somebody else, even a Patriots fan, because they support a different team than you or "your" team beat "their team," you're kind of an idiot.
First, if "your" team wins, it most likely has nothing to do with you. You weren't on the field, you didn't diagram a single play, and playing fantasy football doesn't mean you made a psychic connection that influenced Bill Polian during last year's draft. In fact, even the people who have the highest priced season tickets for the Colts can only say they pay .001 percent of the Colts' salary cap. For that, you get bragging rights if the team wins? That's like the guy who owns 1,000 shares of Microsoft saying he's responsible for their success.
I think Seinfeld was right when he said that, because the players change now so frequently with free agency, we're essentially rooting for our city's clothes. We certainly can't claim some common geographic boundary with the players because most of them aren't from here.
So America...stop hating on each other. And quit taking credit vicariously for things you didn't really help achieve. You're kind of like the cornerback I saw tonight high fiving his teammate, even though he was nowhere near the receiver who just dropped the ball.
2 comments:
Chris, you want to see hateful stuff on the Star? Until the Star disabled the comments section, the vitriol and delight people were posting on the story about Myles Brand being diagnosed with terminal cancer was chilling to read. Because Brand had the audacity to fire Knight for cause, people were preemptively celebrating his death. Unfortunately, I think the hatred that people spew out at others is a reflection of their own self-loathing.
Pete:
That is truly disgusting. I cannot envision EVER feeling happy somebody is suffering. Maybe I am being a hypocrite somewhat becuase there are people I despise myself, such as Rush Limbaugh. The the best I can muster is a chuckle when he has PR problems like with his viagra situation. The idea I would want him to be sick or to die because I disagree with him is just...I just can't get there.
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