Tags
Birth of Jesus Christ, Hate Speech, Human Relationships, Love, Love trumps hate, Neocolonialism, Survival of human species
Child buried alive pulled out of rubble after air strike
Syria – January 2014
Photo Credit: The Sun
No, it’s not a typo error or a slip of the tongue. In this neocolonial world we live in, hate trumps love. The latest hate speech by a business-magnate-turned-politician, aiming for presidency of the world’s only superpower, is proof of this reality. What’s even more disturbing is that he has a large following bubbling over with the same brand of hate.
Exposed to different religious beliefs in my native land Guyana, I have learned to embrace all religions. But, owing to my Catholic upbringing, my first thoughts in the face of such hate speech were the teachings of Jesus. And, for Christians who celebrate Christmas, this is the perfect time to reflect on the significance of his birth.
Jesus came into this world to save humankind (Luke 2: 9-14). That was a tall order. What’s more, he had to lose his life to accomplish his mission. Considering the price he paid in taking on our humanity, Christians who accept Jesus as their savior shouldn’t take his teachings lightly. He summed up the way to harmonious human relationships in one word: love. First, love of God; second, love of neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22: 34-40). Hate nailed him to a cross.
Over the centuries, those in power have used hate to transform our beautiful planet into hellish living spaces. The neighbors we should hate have changed with the times. Today, they include Muslims and refugees from violence and wars. Just like the business-magnate-turned-politician, the power-elite spread hate through fear, bigotry, and xenophobia. They reward their hate-enforcers with material wealth, status, and dribbles of power. Those who love their neighbors are silenced, marginalized, ridiculed, locked up, tortured, persecuted, all the foregoing, or killed. Hopelessness among oppressed peoples can extinguish love of oneself.
The gods and the prophets who have walked among us knew what was at stake. Individuals like the business-magnate-turned-politician fuel the dark, self-destructive side of our nature with their hate speech. Until love trumps hate, there is no hope for the survival of our species. Loving our neighbor is not easy. I know that well.
The Apostle Paul breaks down the challenges loving our neighbor entails (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7):
Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.
Three Worlds One Vision 
Reblogged this on Guyanese Online.
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Thanks for the re-blog, Cyril. May your week ahead be bright with Christmas spirit.
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Rosaliene, this is such an eloquent discussion about the importance of being mindful of the purpose behind our words and deeds. As you point out, the loudest most publicized voices in these times are those that spread hate and fear. Thank you for the reminder that a counterbalance also exists. Let’s do our best to make sure that “love trumps hate.”
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Thanks, Carol. Innocent Muslims in America, of all ages, now face the backlash from such hate speech.
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I only wish Mr. Trump alone held to the xenophobia and bigotry he espouses. He succeeds, at least thus far, because so many agree with him. I believe Mr. Cruz will be the Republican candidate, a man little different with respect to policy and intolerance. Others, less vituperative and bellicose, share many of the views of these two. Meanwhile, there is hesitation on the political right to decry positions that will damage the world (climate change denial), expand the attraction of people to global jihad (failing to admit refugees), or further hurt the economy (more trickle-down economic policies). As both John Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson the second said more than 50 years ago, “In a time of moral crisis the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral.”
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Dr. Stein, thanks for adding your voice to this issue. We cannot remain neutral in the face of such hate. Our entire nation will suffer the consequences.
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I’ve just finished reading Herbert Marcuse’s One Dimensional Man. I was really amazed that more than 50 years he was writing about the role of mass media and indoctrination in totally distorting our language and thinking.
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Scary stuff, Dr. Bramhall. Indoctrination without our consent and awareness. On Sunday, I watched the video – Psywar: The Real Battlefield is in the mind – that you shared on your blog, dealing with the same topic.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfnZHyLD7eQ]
Not having grown up in the USA, I missed out (luckily) on the drive to turn US citizens into consumers. The American drive to buy more and more stuff was one of the aspects of American life that caught my attention on arrival.
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That writings which contain the suggestion love trumps hate are so rare gives one an idea of the distance humanity must travel to attain higher consciousness and peaceful, cooperative, sharing conditions on Earth.
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Indeed, Jerry. I sometimes fear that humanity will disappear into the night before evolving to such higher consciousness.
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Reblogged this on Frank Parker's author site and commented:
As an atheist I still hold that Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings are a sound basis for living. What a pity so few of those who call themselves Christians show by their words and deeds that they disagree.
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What a pity, indeed, Frank! And Christians wonder why so many people have become non-believers.
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First of all, thanks for stopping by and liking my post about Santa getting the ‘sack’! I have reblogged this excellent piece over on my own site.
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Frank, thanks so much for sharing my post with your readers!
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I think the quote attributed to Einstein goes like this: “doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is the definition of insanity.” I think people in general are certifiable, by that simple definition. So much is said, oh, and done! in the name of love. What is love? No matter how it is defined, there’s a way around every definition to satisfy any ego run amuck. How much torturing and killing has been, and is being, done in the name of love?
I have a much better idea, one that actually works. It’s called compassion. You can’t fake that. It’s not charity; it’s not feeling sorry; it’s not sympathy… let’s just say it’s not anything love can be. It can be very difficult to love your neighbour but to be compassionate is not difficult at all.
Compassion is a simplifying and empowering way of life. You start with nothing and if you travel the whole way, you end up with nothing… and everything, because compassion will make you that which you were born to be. Compassion has interesting bed fellows: sorrow, joy, and detachment, and the greatest of those is joy.
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Thanks for sharing, Sha’Tara. Compassion is definitely in short supply.
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Excellent post and thank you for banging the drum. The more who do, the louder the sound. Love and respect and dignity and caring are often soft and gentle, voiced with quiet whispers. We need to learn to shout love, be strident for love. Thanks for being one of those voices. 🙂
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Thanks, Wallace Peach! Come to think of it: outshouting the trumpet would require a drum, Lambeg style 🙂
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Though he “lost his life” Jesus’ mission was not accomplished, not by a long shot. And we face more hate and violence in the name or religion, organized or not, more intolerance, than anything else we face in this world. A thought: what if we banned the outward signs of any religion in public?
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Hell of a plan, but let religious people “demonstrate” their love through selflessness, kindness, cheerfulness, acceptance, you know, the kind of things you’d expect to see religious people doing while assiduously NOT talking about it.
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Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful …. and we wouldn’t know who was what and we wouldn’t care – because it wouldn’t matter ….
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Yes Angela, it would be great if our different religious beliefs did not result in so much hate and intolerance. The powers-that-be know well how to use religion – as with race and class – to keep us divided in order to continue exploiting us.
Don’t know about banning the outward signs of religion in public. Some symbols, like the cross, are easily defined. What about form of dress? How would we differentiate the religious from the cultural forms of dress?
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That shouldn’t be too difficult if “the law” was just and focused on the OBVIOUSLY MEANT TO PROMOTE RELIGIOUS VIEWS AND DOCTRINE. In this western world, turbans and hijabs should definitely be banned, along with ostentatious Christian ornaments, bumper stickers that are construed as offensive. I know that steps on that infamous “freedom of expression” but I think we can all see that such fake freedom easily leads to controversy and lately, to atrocity. Any common type of dress, or behaviour, could simply be overlooked. Just a quick off the cuff remark here and sorry if I bruised a couple of religious toes… come here, I’ll kiss them better!
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Sha’Tara, here’s what it is like when the government decides what women should and shouldn’t wear.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/24/north-korea-fashion-police
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People forget their own history so quickly. Women’s fashions were strictly regulated by either the clergy, or often viciously by society in ALL western empires or nations and by the way, continue to be. It’s a matter of degrees. Can a woman work topless on a job where men take off their shirts for comfort? Strict styles were, and are, always the rule in all top-down dictatorships. Yugoslavia and Albania come to mind as recent western examples. There are many reasons why women may be ALLOWED to wear certain risqué or outré styles: there’s piles of $$$ in them. It’s not because women are more equal, or have more freedom, and it’s still a form of control. The point is, it doesn’t have to be the government that indulges in people surveillance and control. Religion and business have strict dress codes as well, and “we” accept them easily enough. North Korea becomes a target, as do places under strict Muslim rules because, well, they’re “the enemy.”
The point of the discussion was religiously motivated ostentatiousness, however, so I was pointing out those useless accessories that possess only religious significance. As a bit of history, does anyone remember why men wore turbans once upon a time? If you dig back far enough you will come across this little known history: as one “for example” 2000 years ago, under brutal Roman rule, conquered and forcefully dispossessed men not enslaved on galleys or on conscription gangs building for the Romans, wandered about always looking for daily work. All they owned was what they wore, or could carry and their pay was so meagre they could afford little but their food, or maybe a bit extra to send to their families. When in the fields or fishing boats they would strip naked to work so as not to damage their precious clothes which were their sole protection against weather and in which they slept, as in a tent. They could not put their clothes down or they would be instantly stolen, so they wrapped them up cleverly and wore them on their heads. Another reason for the turban was for head protection against the harsh conditions of the desert. Then it became tradition, and then it became a religious symbol. Turbans today have no valid reason to exist. I don’t need to expound on the use of the hijab…
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I agree Sha’Tara – it really shouldn’t be all that difficult. But “shouldn’t” is a loaded word.
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Amen! I can’t imagine a world without Love!
Dwight
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