Hate is a Place You Can Go

Hate is so easy for some people to slide into, that raw emotion promises so much, creates so much havoc, stains centuries of history. It is aways out there like a trusty hammer to use nailing down all your complaints. It is absolutely essential for building a proper torch with which to burn down bridges. But hate has no favorites. It is there for anyone to use for any reason, and, as witnessed in Cairo the past week, it makes absolutely fascinating television. Hate has always been big on TV, hate, violence and bad car accidents. Really, how many times can you see Jack Kennedy assassinated before you are desensitized? Did you know that movie sex bomb Jane Mansfield was in a car accident in which she was beheaded? Really, there are black and white photos of it. MLK and RFK had to die, in public of course, with the cameras running. All that violence, and the opportunity to wonder at where all that hate came from - and in so few years. Conspiracy? Maybe. But hate doesn't care about your stupid little conspiracies. Hate is just the end of things that were not intended to end. It can be seen as the unexpected death of possibilities. Of course, that is not its intention. It has no intentions - until we provide it with one.

I was watching some hate on television yesterday. Actually my eyes were drawn to a fire at the center of my television screen. It was a stand-off of sorts.One one side were Egypt's revolutionaries. On the other side were the dictator Mubarak's thugs, the same government workers he uses in the middle of the night to settle scores, to stuff ballot boxes, to intimidate people away from the polls. Hate was on their side yesterday.Mostly because they have had more practice hating and they are good at it. These were organized Mubarak party members in non-spontaneous protest facing off against thousands of revolutionaries, who have been nonviolent for the most part, even after the dictator announced on television that he wouldn't step down.

These non-violent members just didn't have enough hate on their side. It was obvious they had to organize. Practice some hate. Hate isn't something you can just turn on and off, unless you've had the proper training, or perhaps, are mentally ill. They had occupied Tahrir Square in Cairo for a week, but now Mubarak was fighting back. He claimed during his speech that he would step down from his 30 years of mostly rigged elections in office in Sept. when the next elections were held. In fact, all the hateful countries in that region that have been torturing their citizens and treating them like garbage, seemed to reject hatred yesterday in light of what they were seeing in Egypt. Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Sudan made efforts yesterday to allow more freedom and opportunities to their citizens.

Saudi Arabia, which treats its people very badly hasn't truly weighed in yet. But It probably will before this is over. All of the bogus royal families and so-called democracies the U.S. and others put together over there, some of it to protect Israel, some for the oil. The Muslim Brotherhood will probably be part of any new government that takes over from Mubarak. Richard Engel, a great journalist who works for NBC has lived among the Muslim Brotherhood for four years. He says they are kind, peaceful and do not wish to push their religion down anyone's throat.

But less knowledgeable people in America only have to hear the word "Muslim Brotherhood" and they conjure up false images of militancy, anti-U.S. feelings, etc. All of it not true. There are people in the U.S. who believe that dictator Mubarak ought to be able to stay in office, continuing to torture and murder his people and doing nothing to get them out of poverty.

Glenn Beck, of Fox News, "Mr. Zero Sum Approach" himself is convinced that the violence in Egypt is the beginning of a "Caliphate," i.e. the Muslims taking over a large part of the world (including India, really). This is what Fox News pays Beck to do - to propose the outrageous. To bring up his ratings, which are falling. He has become sort of the spokesperson for hate in America. The other day he carried a live rabbit on his show and held a saw in his other hand. He basically mumbled something about his bunny-saw thing. I can't remember what it was. My feeling though is that Fox is going to let Beck lose his mind right on the air.

The U.S. again asked for Egypt to allow the "transition" to happen. At the same time various U.S. intelligence services reported that the Muslim Brotherhood might eventually take control of Egypt and run the government just like Iran. There is no proof of this. U.S. intelligence services have been going downhill since the days of he Second World War. They are as infected with politics as our judiciary.

Meanwhile Mubarak's gangs have been filtering through the crowd. They are carrying boards with nails affixed, sharp side out, and attacking demonstrators with these weapons.

Hate is with them.