Johnthan’s Thought of the Day

Greetings, all.

“I don’t have a hateful bone in my body. I have a lot of them that dislike things to the highest degree imaginable without [omitted], but none of them are hateful. Therefore, “hater” is a word that’s about as synonomous with me as “tall.” #selfzing”

-Me, about ten minutes ago via Facebook (sorry to sound like a pompous *** that only thinks highly of himself)

But, there is an epidemic going on throughout the world. But, unlike AIDS, the cure doesn’t seem that forthcoming. I’m talking about people that use the words “hate” when they really mean “constructive criticism” and “hater” when the person being addressed is really just a “person critical of your viewpoint.” See, hate is what people had for Jesus, what Hitler had for Jews, what religious extremists have for the stereotype that America is full of sadistic, capitalistic, oversexed individuals that live by the motto “if it’s brown, toss it out.” Hate is not someone saying “Oh, I dislike your song because it does not reflect a realistic mentality that today’s young people should have.” Heck, hate isn’t even someone saying “**** Swagger,” as I have on many occasions.

So, it honestly irks me when someone says that anything that doesn’t completely agree with their ideals is “hate.” I blame it on rap music. As the genre matured, people began to get legitimate hate from certain parties, such as Jack Thompson, the KKK, old black people, etc. But, as the art form evolved (or devolved, depending on what camp of hip-hop intelligentsia you represent) to its modern state, so did the meanings of the slang—including hater. What was once a word in the genre that described “devils” of any background quickly became people that were “trying to stop my hustle,” and then “anyone who doesn’t blindly accept what I say as reality and an absolute truth.”

Back in the day, different opinions were expected, the norm, the deal.* Now, either you’re a lemming** to the words thrown your direction and refuse to challenge them or you challenge them and you’re automatically ostracized. There seems to be no middle ground and that goes for the so-called elevated and the so-called de-elevated minds in the world, especially within “black culture.” It’s a problem that sets our entire society back years, and almost negates any positive mobility; if people are instantly shot down for voicing opinions that are against a pocket of people, or even the majority, how will any progress truly be made? It has become less of a music-based issue and more of an issue that has seeped into every facet of our lives, especially within the “black” community.
In summary, we as a group must learn to accept that everyone will not agree with us all the time. We must learn to accept criticism and diverse opinions. And we must agree that just because I do not like one facet of your life, it does not mean that I believe that you are akin to the worst person ever.***

*Name the song that this quote came from.

**Lemmings don’t actually follow blindly, although. That was, apparently, just a one-time thing that people, because our wiring of the “correlation implies causation” school of thought

***I.e, just because I say that your music sucks doesn’t mean that I don’t respect you as a person and a member of humanity; “diss” records are usually just ways for artists to express disdain about a person’s lyrical ability, unwarranted success, market saturation, or false assertions about their lifestyle, either the “disser” or the “dissee.” Those that take it “to the streets” forget that rap music evolved from what was, essentially, a rhyming version of “the dozens.” (But, the anger that we, as humans, have, is another issue)

-Johnthan