Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” From whom have we heard it said, “hate your enemy?” It is from the cult of Militarism. Militarism trains its soldiers to hate enemies.
Haters gonna hate. Be it soldiers of nationalism or white supremacy or misogyny, soldiers gonna hate. They follow the orders of their supremacist commanders who train them to hate. They claim the hate is good, even holy. It is the modus operandi of the soldiers of white supremacy, specifically its right-wing radio platoon; Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, Alex Jones, Bryan Fisher, and others. Each is a soldier; each fights in an army for pay and earn their millions in plunder – Limbaugh’s estimated worth is $600 million. They rarely speak for – but are never at a loss to speak against. Haters do not unify, they do not educate, they do not heal; they hate. For example, Limbaugh: “Blacks are 12% of the population. Who the hell cares” about their voice; “slavery had its merits;” “women are protesting what they wish would happen to them … sexual harassment;” “Let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work;” “bankers – code word for Jewish;” “feminazi;” “Citizen service is a repudiation of (U.S.) principles. We are all here for ourselves;” “90 million Indians? Only 4 million left? They all have casinos – what’s to complain about?” Rush and the others choose the enemy of the day, the decade, the lifetime. They spew hate to an audience who, like them, seem to need to hate. It is a drug and they are addicted. They get high on the emotion. Hate gives haters a false sense of coping, a false sense of acting. They camouflage the addiction to hate under an appeal to order; which they control. They direct their ordered control against others/enemies which they achieve through guns, border security, militia groups, fascism, and dictators. It is achieved through any thing or any person that replaces conscience and its creativity with command and its dictates. In time, the haters find they need ever more dangerous levels of the hate spiraling into the need for ever more cruel levels of control. They need more order and control inside the cult too. It is provided by the cult leader who will reward the haters – as Trump recently rewarded Limbaugh with a Medal of Freedom. But it is the cult leader who produces the need for the hate and the control since cult leaders invent false claims of persecution from outsiders – the proverbial vicious cycle. Haters, such as Limbaugh and other MAGA members today, do not understand what hate confirms about them – they are weak. Like the rest of us they experience conflict or chaos but cannot or will not think or collaborate or heal a creative way through it. Lacking or refusing these action skills, they crave the drug, give in to the hate. A hater is a weak person who attaches themselves to other weak persons and to a weak ruler. ‘Weak’ is not name calling or prejudice but a description. Weak means a person who has not strengthened their own soul, character, virtues – of compassion, courage, humility. They are not free and instead are a ‘ditto head’ for Rush or for Trump. In their acclaim of the ‘Dear’ leader outside themselves the weak are admitting the deficiency of the true leader within themselves. The person who needs a commander to worship rarely heeds a conscience to guide. The person who needs an enemy to hate is rarely satisfied by friends to love.
“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” “For if you love those who love you… if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?
Prayer: Spirit, may we always be lovers
Question: Who are the haters I am called to love and what action will I take to love them?
February 23, 2020 Gospel Matthew 5:38-48 Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time