The Real Face of Hate

"Hate" is a term that for some time has been used pretty loosely, usually to score cheap political points. We have "hateful" Republicans who "hate" President Obama because they will not give him carte blanche to pursue his vision of remaking the U.S. We have people who "hate" gays because they will not agree that gays should have the same right to marry as heterosexuals. We have "hate" this and "hate" that. In short, "hate" is becoming a very devalued term. An occasional reminder of what hate really is may be useful.

This is the real face of hate - Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 kids at a summer camp in Norway and would dearly have loved to kill even more. He is a neo-Nazi. The prosecution tried to portray him as insane. The judge did not agree. He was just evil. And for doing this his sentence was a grand total of 21 years. That in itself is a tragedy.

A society that does not recognize evil when it sees it is a society that undervalues life and it will be unable to effectively confront evil when it arises. It starts with bad thinking as reflected in a society's words. Breivik was not mad - he is evil. In this country, political opponents may be misinformed, misguided, self-dealing or just wrong, but rarely are they "hateful." Hate is a strong word and we need to keep it that way so that when the real thing comes along, in the form of an Anders Breivik, we recognize it and respond appropriately. This is the real face of hate.

news.yahoo.com/court-finds-norwegian-mass-killer-breivik-sane-082140655.html