He abused me, attacked me,
Defeated me, robbed me!”
For those carrying on like this,
Hatred does not end…
Hatred never ends through hatred.
By non-hate alone does it end.
This is an ancient truth.
Many do not realize that
We here must die.
For those who realize this,
Quarrels end.
That’s from The Dhammapada. Everyone is so angry right now. It seems like it’s off the charts. But then again, never before have there been so many phones with cameras. These “stories” would never make the rounds if no one had the video. Some irate, whacko customer going off on the employees, would be eventually bum-rushed out the door and everyone would go back to what they were doing.
But as they say above, “Hatred never ends through hatred.” A truer sentence has never been uttered. If you make me mad, then I’m mad at you, and so on… And all those videos also make us mad, entertainment makes us mad, politicians make us mad. All three also gain money and power on the backs of us being mad. The first two also make money if they make us happy. The latter not so much. So politicians are on a race to the deepest depths of anger, meanness and hatred, because they know that we’ll follow them.
How many Americans really have a problem with Trans people, for the love of god? One might not understand it or them, you might even be offended due to what you’ve been taught in church, synagogue, temple, etc. But where’s the actual skin off your back? How can that “issue” even resonate in your psyche. I’m assuming you possibly have friends, a family, a job, a home or rental, bills, healthcare issues, dealing maybe with unemployment, drug abuse, divorce, family issues; or a wedding, a new child or grandchild, or a coming vacation someplace warm. With all that we have, how is it that some of us are so concerned about Trans people. There have always been Trans people. The world has continued on just fine.
It really is much due to our immersion in entertainment, news, politics and all the rest – brought to us in full-color picture with stereo sound right there in our wallet sized phone that we all carry around, like Linus’s blanket in the 21st century. It’s an emotion machine, or maybe a drug, or a drip. And if not there, then on the 50-inch color screen in our homes, or the 75 screens at the mall sports bar. They all make us angry, sometimes, happy, others, fearful, revenge-filled, ecstatic, silly, murderous and all the rest. But it’s the anger, we need to be worried about; and much less so from entertainment and much more so from politics.
Bottom line, we out here in TV land need to force politicians to stop being mean, angry, spiteful and proud for all the wrong reasons. We need to demand that they simply be nice. It’s not that hard, and would be amazing for the nation and its people. We’ve got enough to be angry about, real things – way overpriced healthcare, the climate crisis, the massive wealth and wage gaps – that need to be addressed rather than, say, the Trans “issue”? Please. None of us are very long for this world, so why spend so much of our time here enraged, angry and in conflict. Here again,
Many do not realize that
We here must die.
For those who realize this,
Quarrels end.
Luke Soiseth 