I'm not calling on haters on media to tone it down (though toning down on hate by everyone, everywhere would be a good thing); I'm calling on (so-called) liberals—including myself—to recognize some of our humor as hate in disguise, and tone it down.
The Trump family has been the target of focused hate for close to a decade. Their patriarch is so oblivious to negative feedback (that is, people on all sorts of media expressing unhappiness about various things he says), that it makes these people escalate their disapproval to the level of hate, even if it didn't start out that way. At this point, the members of the Trump family, apparently even more insensitive to criticism than the, er, patriarch, amplify the rhetoric they must hear around Trump Central, and say things bluntly that the Don has said more delicately. (I never thought I'd be using that word in connection with these people, but there, now, this is creeping toward hate.)
As a result, the camp opposed to Trump—that includes myself, and many sane people—hate this rhetoric, and Trump and his, well, followers, for lack of a better word, love it. They know that we hate it, and that knowledge makes them love it even more! So MAGA rallies almost completely feature this sort of material.
We're going to get—or already are—labeled as 'Haters,' which will surprise many of us, again including me, because I have never considered myself a hater of any sort, except recently, because the incendiary Trump combination of lies, misconceptions, twisted humor, and rhetoric does make me respond with a knee- jerk reaction that is, on examination, nothing but hate.
The sad thing about hate speech is that it is easy to discount. 'Oh, that's just spewing,' I say to myself, and those who I intend should read it, my target audience, could be doing the same.
It's all very sad. But may improve, especially if the MAGA people want us to cooperate in various programs. Immigration, for instance, is one area where we can cooperate.
Kay, surprised to be a hater
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