Hate Going Mainstream

For the second time this week we have seen a huge uproar over a false story. Someone with a fake twitter account released a video that appeared to show a high school student wearing a MAGA hat getting in the face of a Native American beating a drum. Denunciations of the high school students came rapidly. This included many in the media, some Hollywood types and even their school and the mayor of the town. Hollywood producer Jack Morrissey thought the kids should go “screaming, hats first into a woodchipper”. Presumably he meant it as a joke but I don’t see the humor in it.

A fuller video showed the students were innocent victims. Some, included Morrissey, apologized. Most kept quiet. I just read a column in which the writer basically said this was OK since a MAGA hat is a symbol of racism.

I think Hillary Clinton got the ball rolling in 2016. Personal attacks are nothing new in presidential campaigns but usually they aren’t directed at voters. She is most famous for her “basket of deplorables” comment but that was not the only one. Is wrong to hate people because of their gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. It is also wrong to hate them because of who they vote for.
​
Neither party has a monopoly on hate. Certainly, President Trump has made many hateful comments that were best left unsaid. However, I have never heard a Republican talk about throwing Democratic kids into a woodchipper.​