A thousand years from now, when the civilization that succeeds us is sifting through the rubble of our culture, trying to construct a picture of what we were like, they will be truly impressed and amazed by our ability to hate.
We hate well. We hate very well. We seem to be built for it, the way cheetahs are built to run fast, or platypi are built to mess with scientists. Hate and loathing are hard-wired into our programming, and we as a culture seem to NEED someone or something to hate. If we can't find someone hate-worthy, we'll make someone. We're that addicted.
I know a lot of people who seem to regard gay rights and gay marriage as some sort of magic wand. They're laboring under the idea, spoken or unspoken, that once we have one or both, prejudice and discrimination will magically disappear. Or turn into a pumpkin, I suppose. Most of these people are also under the impression that gay and lesbian folk don't hold the same prejudices and failings as everyone else. The first assumption is just idealistic. The second is downright dangerous.
A friend of mine recently sat in on a discussion that involved a panel of gay and lesbian people answering questions and stating their views on the world. While not particularly surprised at the "us and them" mentality on both sides, or the derision shown by some the heterosexual members of the audience, she was taken aback by how much hatred the people on the panel had toward hetero folk. Not only that, but several people on the panel were quick to point unfriendly fingers at bisexuals, transgendered people and members of the BDSM community.
There's an old saying about the oppressed becoming the oppressors...
And therein lies the problem. Most people don't like having the mob against them and are more than willing to pull a Billy Goats Gruff and say, "Well, I'm not so bad. I mean, look at THEM. Now they're the real deviants!'" So the focus shifts. The descendants of people who fought and died for freedom from religious oppression, slavery and oppression of women are now the same people who are willing to side against gay marriage... for now. Eventually, the majority will probably win out and the hate will shift to some new group. Who will it be? Transgendered people? Polyamorous people? The BDSM community? I can't guess, but I don't doubt for a second that the mob will find someone new to string up. If our civilization should ever discover intelligent life in outer space, and that life -- for reasons that escape me -- chooses to have anything at all to do with us, then we'll start hating on aliens. Because that's the way we are. We can take apart atoms. We can communicate instantly with people half a world away. We can build machines to reach the stars... but we can't get over an entry-level curb as small as "some people like other people who share the same primary sex characteristics. "
Sounds like an idiot savant to me. At least we're good at hating, right? We'll just go ahead and build a civilization on that.
Write to Jonathan at
tenement_cellar@msn.com
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