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 do so while claiming it 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. For example, Limbaugh’s estimated worth is $600 million. They rarely speak for – but are never at a loss to speak against. Such 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;” “Michael J. Fox is exaggerating his Parkinson’s disease;” “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;” “Holocaust? 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. Haters are those people who experience conflict or chaos but won’t think or collaborate or heal a creative way through it. Lacking or refusing these action skills, right-wing haters are a type of drug addict. They do not actively deal with the conflict or chaos but rather they succumb to it. They lose themselves into its pitched battles via an addiction to hate. 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. Such order worsens conflict or chaos for those the haters target, while the haters feel a sense of control or triumph within it. Haters, such as the right-wing radio haters, become addicted to the hate, dependent upon the control. In time, the haters find they need ever more dangerous levels of the hate spiraling into the need for ever more cruel levels of the control. They need more order and control inside the cult too. It is provided by the cult leader. But then it is also the cult leader who produces the need for both since cult leaders invent false claims of persecution from outsiders – the proverbial vicious cycle. A cult’s Dear Leader will also reward members – as Trump recently rewarded Limbaugh with a Medal of Freedom. But haters, such as Limbaugh and other MAGA members today, do not understand what hate confirms about them; it confirms they are weak. 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 internal attachments; of soul, of character, of virtue – compassion, courage, humility. They are not free for they are instead 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