Anyone who has been reading news stories on the Internet lately has probably noticed an incredible amount of hatred spewing out of the mouths of many commentators. This hatred is pervasive, and usually boils down to race, no matter what the original topic was. And much of it is filled with such vitriol, that one can become concerned walking down the street, wondering whether this person or that person is one of those individuals filled with seething hatred.
Hatred on a global level can be seen in the continuous talk about war, and the proliferation of them in spots all over the world. It is truly a case where we are not our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. For example, there is a case brewing on the African continent where women are being whipped for wearing slacks! One brave soul, who is putting her life on the line in bringing this issue to a wider audience, was in court about wearing the improper clothing while others outside were flogged. This story, read by an ordinary person, would be heartwarming, but one commentator called the freedom fighter “ugly” and asked “…who she thought she was- Rosa Parks?” Another commented that she was so ugly that she shouldn’t be allowed to wear “revealing” clothing.
The interesting thing about this is that they missed the obvious – people were being denied their rights and were actually beaten for wanting to wear clothing that they desired to wear.
In another recent story, the leader of an African American sorority was accused of malfeasance. It was one of the eight original Black organizations, one that had its origins during the first part of the last century. Several commentators jumped on the woman’s personal appearance, called her ugly, and said a lot of other hateful things about her. The hatred escalated to a fever pitch, with a commentator finally saying that Black women are the ugliest women on the planet, and others agreed with that assertion! How base.
It’s tempting to think that a lot of these individuals, hiding behind an electronic keyboard spewing their hatred, are misguided adolescents with nothing else to do. This is because, in addition to hatred, they are woefully ignorant. One commentator actually questioned the notion that Black people would have enough wherewithals to belong to sororities and fraternities.
On second thought, however, it is not comforting to think that wild youth are the ones creating so much havoc on the Internet, because it portends things to come. If this is how they are thinking now, they might be even worse haters when they reach adulthood. And what does this say about their families? Whatever the case, whether these are adolescents or grown people, Internet hatred is becoming a real problem, and it points to a possible worsening of race relations that is reaching a boiling point. We hope cooler heads prevail. A luta continua.
