This person is planning to kill me in order to teach me that I shouldn’t be mean and hateful
Matt Walsh/ 511 Comments
To my leftwing friends:
Last night, someone sent me an email threatening to murder me because they disagree with my opinions. It read, in part:
“F*ck you… I will find a way to kill you. Make no god d*mn mistake, you filth.”
Concise. Eloquent. And now on file with the state police.
After I reported the threat to law enforcement, I didn’t pay it much mind. But then, a few minutes ago, I received this message from someone else:
“Matt, you are so filled with hate in everything you write. You are part of the reason why conservative teabaggers in this country are nothing but hate mongers and bigots. Do you want to know why I’m a “liberal”?Because liberals know how to make a point without being hateful and spiteful.”(Emphasis mine).
I laughed quite heartily when I read that. Perfect timing. Mere hours after someone called me ‘filth’ and announced their plan to end my existence all because of my beliefs, I’m informed that these are precisely the people who ‘know how to make a point without being hateful and spiteful.’
At first I dismissed this claim and concluded, as I often do, that the person who said it couldn’t possibly be serious. Does he really not notice the hate and hostility pouring like sewage out of his own ideological camp? Does he really think that hate is somehow a ‘conservative’ thing? No, I thought. Nobody is that oblivious.
But the more I reflected upon it the more I realized that I have to stop looking through the prism of rationality. Many people in this country have bought into the propaganda that paints us cultural non-conformists as hateful bigots. They’ve had this notion instilled in them, and it is only reinforced by virtually everything they see and hear from their teachers, the media, their pop culture idols, their parents, and their president.
So I’ve decided that maybe it’s time I address the misunderstanding head-on. I think we need to have a dialogue, as politicians like to say, about this thing known as ‘hate.’
Our society is obsessed with the term. Every idea you oppose is ‘hateful,’ every person who expresses it is ‘full of hate,’ every time someone hurts your feelings or makes you uncomfortable they must be dismissed as hateful haters who want to spread hate and hatefulness all over the world.
Every morning I sift through dozens of messages informing me that I am a hateful monster who hates gays, minorities, endangered species, trees, flowers, puppies, jelly beans, and dolphins. It’s fortunate that they take the time to tell me this about myself, because otherwise I’d go through life generally believing myself when myself tells myself that I don’t harbor even the faintest hint of hatred for any of these groups. I guess I do hate women, though, as is evidenced by a thorough investigation of my Twitter account:
Emily Timbol @EmilyTimbol Follow
Not surprising - of the 84 people @MattWalshBlog follows on Twitter, 11 are women. 12 if you include Ann Coulter. Most are "housewives."
Case closed.
The ‘you’re hateful’ schtick really kicked into overdrive the past couple of days, after I published that post explaining why I don’t think a six-year-old girl should be told she’s a boy. When I wrote it, I felt driven by concern for both the child and the truth, but it’s once again been explained to me that, no, I was actually motivated by hatred.
Some guy who goes by the name ‘Naked Pastor’ wrote a blog post on the subject, calling me the ‘equivalent of the Taliban.’ He even he drew this pretty picture:
I am a terrorist. A violent terrorist who plans to blow up the world. I’m a dangerous, dangerous, hateful man.
Now, before we get into defining hatred, let’s go over some legitimate examples. Here’s a quick peek at excerpts from a few more emails I received, mostly reacting to my opinion that toddlers can’t be ‘transgendered’.
“Matt, f*ck you. I seriously hope you die.”
F*ck you and your entire website you f*cking douche. I have known I am transgender for a long time… You are very sick in the head and I hope you rot in hell. I will pray Lucifer himself finds you.
“Hey f*ck you. Die. That’s all.”
“You’re a f*cking bigot piece of shit…”
“I’ve decided that I’m going to block any friend who reposts your trash on Facebook. You are the worst human being on the planet and the world would be better if you weren’t part of it.”
“Dear Matt, you’re horrible. Kill yourself.”
“Oh, like you don’t already know you’re a piece of sh*t. F*ck you.”
“Matt, I saw a Tweet that said you’re a flaming bag of dogsh*t on the doorstep of the internet. I thought it was great but kind of insulting to dog sh*t.”
“Matt, shut the f*ck up with your hate and homophobia. You are the biggest assh*le I’ve ever seen. Go crawl into a f*cking hole somewhere and die.”
“Anytime someone retweets or shares your posts I die a little inside. Your like a cancer on the internet. You’re an embarrassment bro. Seriously, you’re the worst.”
Look, see? Hatred.
Loathing, despising, detesting, hating.
Not just hatred of my ideas or my actions, but hatred of me personally. A boiling, ungodly rage. A yearning to see me burn in Hell for all eternity. Malicious feelings targeted at me, the human being. A desire to see me dead, hurt, dehumanized. A wish to kill me because of my ideology.
Hatred. Let me assure you that it is a huge problem in the liberal ranks. I experience it everyday. Before you spend another minute lamenting the perceived ‘hatred’ of conservative bloggers and media personalities, I suggest you look into your own souls. I have seen and felt the cold, stinging hatred that lives there, and it is surely the nastiest and most brutal sort.
But what about me? Do I have hate of my own? Yes, I do. Sometimes we should feel hatred. It’s just that progressive hatred is often the wrong kind. Your hatred is for individuals, whereas mine is for certain actions and ideas.
Perhaps this is the root of our massive communication failure. I’ve noticed that many liberals don’t understand how it’s feasible to detest an action without detesting the actor, or how one can possibly hate an idea without hating (and wanting to punish or censor or kill) the person who articulated it. They laugh hysterically when a Christian suggests that it’s possible to condemn the homosexual act without hating the homosexual person. I’ve attempted to make this clarification so many times, and, on every occasion, I’m told that such a distinction is impossible. Hate what a person does, hate the person. It’s that simple.
Progressives are so insistent on this point because this is how they operate. They make no delineation between the individual and the action, and they project that thought process onto everyone else.
You hate my beliefs, so you hate me. I hate certain beliefs and actions, so you assume I hate the people behind those beliefs and actions. Only, if you asked me, and if you were open to the answer, you’d find that your assumptions are baseless.
I hate attacks on marriage, on the family, on my faith, on liberty, on truth, on reason, on the constitution, but I don’t hate the attackers. I hate what they stand for, I hate their agenda, I hate their lies, but I do not hate the individuals. I don’t hate the person who wants to kill me, or the myriad of people who send me anonymous messages wishing sickness and suffering upon me and my family. I harbor no ill will for them at all. I don’t even hate the guy who compared me to a flaming bag of dog sh*t on the doorstep of the internet, but mostly because that one was kind of funny.
The point is, I don’t hate these people. I want them to be successful and happy. I want them to be healed of the psychological and spiritual affliction that causes them to be so lost, confused, and consumed by horrible feelings of animosity towards strangers they’ve never met.
Sometimes I get very angry at the legions of progressive nihilists who stand as staunch advocates for some of the greatest evils mankind has ever witnessed (like abortion, for instance), but beyond anger I always feel pity. I believe that you’ll destroy yourself with your philosophy before you destroy anyone else, and I sincerely wish for you to avoid that fate.
If I truly think that my views are correct, and that the rejection of neo-liberal cultural dogma will lead you to greater joy and fulfillment in life, ultimately bringing you out of the darkness and into the light of truth, why would I try to help you in that process if I hated you?
I wouldn’t. I’d let you drown and die. I’d watch and relish the sight.
That’s how a hateful person would handle the situation. He’d keep his opinions to himself. He wouldn’t bother. He’d let society run headfirst over the cliff, and he wouldn’t care as long as he personally remains standing at the top. The real hateful conservatives and Christians are the ones who say nothing. They see the same truth that I do, and that so many others do, yet they have no interest in opening anyone else’s eyes to it. In fact, they are examples of something worse than hate: indifference.
That is, truly, the worst of all things. Even hatred for individuals is preferable to indifference towards them. Hate, at least, is something. It’s a feeling. It’s fiery and passionate and energetic. A person who hates deeply can easily become a person who loves deeply. They have the raw material, it’s just being misused and misdirected. An indifferent person, on the other hand, lacks the depth and interest to feel either way about anything. So, if you get upset at any of us, get upset at those of us who think we know the truth yet are too lazy and selfish to speak up and share it.
Indeed, just because someone voices a disagreement with you doesn’t mean they hate you. Often, it means the exact opposite.
If, on the other hand, they call you a piece of trash, or wish for your imminent demise, or plan to personally bring about your imminent demise, then you’ll know that they do hate you.But if you’re looking for that kind of hate, you can find plenty of it on your end of the ideological spectrum. Trust me.
Read more at http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/06/05/this-person-is-planning-to-kill-me-in-order-to-teach-me-that-shouldnt-be-mean-and-hateful/2/#cV5iU4i3SDdzdy2R.99 |
