I have a strong reaction every time I hear of some poor unfortunate who is tortured and killed just for being different. What is also unfortunate is that I hear it more and more every time I turn on my TV.
It's enough to make me want to stop watching.
These things are labelled 'hate crimes' and there is an irrationality behind them. I don't know if it's a bona fide mental illness, or just an irrational part of being human.
Since it is so irrational, here's an irrational solution.
We identify people who hate. since there are some pretty broad and vocal communities among us, we don't need to take this to ludicrous extremes - killing Madonna because she hates Hydrangeas is ludicrous.
What we do is ask 3 simple questions along specific lines:
Do you hate Gays?
Do you hate Blacks/Whites/Hispanics?
Do you hate Christians/Muslims/Jews?
Anyone who scores a perfect 3 out of 3 has to be a pretty reprehensible scumbag, don't you think? Certainly not someone representative of this great nation as a whole.
What we do with these high scorers is take 'em and corral them somewhere - segregate them from us nice people. This bunch would provoke some pretty powerful emotions among right minded folk.
Some people would even hate 'em.
So, of the remaining non-quarantined, we ask a further question:
Do you hate haters?
Anyone who so identifies would then be turned loose upon the previous group with high powered pickups, high powered guns and ropes.
They would be free to kneecap, pistol whip, emasculate, immolate, lynch and drag beat or shoot to death anyone in the previous group.
When they are done, I think everyone would agree that society as a whole would be a much nicer place. Of course, what to do with haters who hate haters would represent something of a quandary, but you have to agree that pulling 90% of the poison ivy from your back yard would make it a much more pleasant place.
You might recoil at this type of arrangement (good for you), however it's not one million miles from what we are living right now - just turn on your TV. Whether or not you agree with channeling the mayhem and destruction you see on TV toward more constructive ends, you have to agree that it would make TV a whole lot more watchable.
