Wednesday, August 29, 2012

What Is the Origin of Hate?

     If you are not someone who has taken refuge in the most simplistic tenets of religion--any religion--then you know that hate is part of your being.  This is not easy to accept, even for those who are not religious, as hatred is thought to be the very thing that tears social groups apart--and we need one another, that's for sure.  We need one another to survive, whether we admit it or not.  Therefore, it is a sin to hate.
     Now love, that's another story.  It's admirable to be filled with love--all the fairy tales and sacred texts have drummed this into us from the time we were old enough to see the bifurcated pictures-- princess/witch, dragon-slayer/dragon, David/Goliath--in our storybooks.  It's the perennial clash between good and evil--and we know which side we're on, don't we?
     Who's on the side of hate?  Even self-admitted serial murderers lay claim to love, many turning their lives over to one conventional love-obsessed religion or another while in prison, thereby unloading themselves.  Hate is just too hard to carry.  No one wants that baggage.  We want someone else to carry it.
     Not that I'm against love.  It's fine, with its gleaming facets flashing us in the eyes like crystals rotating in the window at midday.  But even a saint standing in bright sunlight casts a shadow, and there's the problem.  Can a person exist without a shadow?  Do we organize ourselves into groups in the hope of doing just that, dividing the burden of being human unevenly, so that some may carry only light, and be celebrated, while others are the bearers of darkness, despised, but magnetic--they're the ones we clamor to watch in Hollywood movies.  Their evil deeds so mesmerize us that we turn those movies into box office hits, and mediocre books about those serial killers I mentioned are always bestsellers.
     What do you do when you have the feeling, hatred?  Do you squash it back down where it came from, and wash your hands, and smile?  Do you pretend it was an error of metabolism, and ask your system to reconstitute it into something more agreeable?  Do you make the sign of the cross, and tell the devil to get back?  Do you fantasize about buying a gun, or strangling someone to death?  Or do you never even feel such feelings--being so divinely constructed as never to hate, or sweat, or pass gas, or eliminate odious material of any kind?
     Hate has its way whether you acknowledge it or not.  If you feel it, you can understand its origin-- which is a kernel of inadequacy that grows, especially if unseen, into envy...then greed...then a desire to do harm.  If the envy, greed and desire to do harm are also squashed below the surface of one's bright, shining self, they work their way up like the black roots of an enormous tree, breaking through the floorboards of houses, destroying people's lives, dividing us more than if we had admitted the wretched feelings to begin with.
     Better to feel your hate, envy, greed, and ill-will, and to recognize them as stories about you, not others.  This could take decades--but then you get to hold onto your shadow, and it doesn't run rampant in the world, and you have a dimensional self.  A person with dimension is real, and interesting.
     I am writing about the topic of hate on my blog because it occurred to me today that a recent comment--posted anonymously on the site--may have been written by someone who used to work for me.
     The comment was written in a style I thought I recognized, with a voice that seemed to take distinct pleasure in the chaos it had helped to wreak, "reporting" me falsely, snuggling up to authorities with the congenial demeanor of one who could do no wrong, flattering and maneuvering others to join a clan of  informants who lied for gain, and used the government's desire to profit from its own gullibility, as a weapon against me, an expression of hatred.

               So far, you've mentioned financial losses.  Is there any chance you could
               go to prison?

     There is the comment--not innocent, not by a long shot.  It is the gloating of an ex-employee, a voice I recognize for its unnatural tactfulness--a quality I had valued in the employee before I understood what it hid.  This was someone whose salary and benefits far exceeded what one might expect based on qualifications alone, someone who began to feel very important, and who took liberties that revealed a lack of conscience cleverly concealed by a show of churchy sanctity.
     Why should this employee have decided to "report" me, without cause, betting that FBI agents would fall prey to a superficial show of sophistication and special knowledge--preferring these to the difficult research required to uncover true evidence, and hard facts.
     Well, why not report me?  If a whistleblower fee is a possibility, it could pad one's nest for many years.  And if there exists in the annals of law a penalty for false reporting, I doubt if it's ever used in cases of healthcare fraud--Medicare actively solicits reports from simple citizens.
     It seems worthwhile to make a claim, even a fictitious one, against someone who has resources to usurp.  Fraudfighters.net advertises, "Claim your share for helping fight fraud on the government," and at employmentlawgroup.net you will see that whistleblower attorneys "stand by, and do the right thing," helping employees keep their jobs while reporting employers and getting big rewards.  Legal protection for whistleblowers dates back to 1863 and the False Claims Act.  If a whistleblower deliberately misleads agents, reprisals usually come--if at all--from the falsely accused, after the damage is done, not from the government.
     What an expedient way for an angry or repressed employee to vent aggression--compliments of an exploitable government.  And if making a terrible accusation makes up for this same employee's feeling of having been under-appreciated, or squashes despair over the employee's having failed to succeed elsewhere in life, through hard work--why not exercise power using the government's armed agents?
     

9 comments:

  1. ABOUT 5 YEARS AFTER RETURNING FROM MY SECOND TOUR IN THE VIETNAM FIASCO I OVERCAME HATRED...I STILL GET PRETTY MAD, BUT I DO NOT GET VIOLENT LIKE I USED TO. I SIMPLY HAD AN AWAKENING....THANK GOD...AFTER WHICH I SAW THE WORLD AND PEOPLE THROUGH A WHOLE DIFFERENT LIGHT....I LIKE EVERYBODY...MAN OR WOMAN BLACK OR WHITE YOUNG OR OLD..IT IS SO REFRESHING NOT TO DISLIKE ANYONE..A LITTLE HARD AT TIMES BUT REFRESHING NON THE LESS. IF ALL ELSE FAILS I SIMPLY MOVE AWAY...I ALSO AM AN AVID BELIEVER IN SHADOWS...ESPECIALLY...THE PNUMBRA....(THE SHADOW OF THE SHADOW IF YOU WILL)SOME PEOPLE FEAR IT I LIVE IN IT.

    GOD BLESS YOU AND MAY THE SUN BE AT YOUR FACE AND THE WIND AT YOUR BACK

    SECRET ADMIRER

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  2. Anonymous, You are coming across as a creepy and violent stalker; not a secret admirer. And if you are the same Anonymous who asked about prison; that question rings just as strange. I was immediately struck by how crude and 'in your face' that question was . And to that person I say, "Shame on you".

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  3. I posted the question about prison. It was my first and only post. I am not a former employee. What was crude about my question about the possibility of prison?

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  4. Anonymous No. 2, Do you think there is a possibility that an innocent person could be in prison? Do you think that a business owner raided by the FBI and whose agency confiscated money from personal and business accounts and took away all your business records and patient charts could possibly charge you criminally? Hasn't the doctor said that she would like the FBI to tell her why she was raided because she knows that she is totally innocent of any wrongdoing? Why do you want you want to know that?

    You will have to forgive me as I was covertly attacked and wrongly accused. I, too was innocent of any wrongdoing. After spending time in jail, losing thousands of dollars in legal fees, and being under house arrest I'm a little touchy I guess. I'll probably never have the same attitudes or trust as I did before I had to spend months wondering what evidence law enforcement could possibly have against me.

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  5. Why do I want to know? Because it appeared that Dr. Colasante wanted to start a public dialogue and I had a question. Was it morbid curiosity or a result of getting emotionally involved after ready every post?

    Obviously, Dr. Colasante is in a serious legal battle. It looks like somebody has criminal charges on their mind. I didn't think my question carried any payload.

    I'll respond to your questions. 1) Yes, there are innocent people in prison. 2) Do I think that she could be charged criminally? I imagine that if the federal government felt they had enough evidence, they could indict her. 3)Yes, I have read that Dr. Colasante has been unable to establish what she is suspected of doing or what charges are pending. However, I think that her counsel understands the category of offenses in which any charges might fall. Yes, based on the parties and methodology involved, I assume that this is a criminal investigation. Criminal prosecution and conviction can lead to incarceration. I was curious if Dr. Colasante fears this. She has not been timid about expressing her other thoughts and feelings. 4) Why do I want to know? Once again, I thought that Dr. Colasante invited a public conversation. I thought I was playing within the rules. I wasn't impolite or accusatory. In fact, my question was a result of my genuine interest cultivated by this blog.

    I will refrain from any post that isn't a rosy voice of support.

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  6. THAT DID NOT POSS RIGHT FOR SOME REASON BUT YOU GET MY POINT

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  7. I am sorry to hear about what happened to you. I thought the question about prison was strange. Obviously I don't think I'm at risk for going to prison--for what reason would I be jailed? I keep asking that question. This entire experience is something out of the Gulag--or Kafka. Maybe I am naive in recalling my grade school lessons that you have to be guilty to be convicted and go to prison. Are we living in a different country now? Has there been a time warp? Why on earth would they send you to prison? When a government attacks its everyday citizens--people who make a contribution to the wellbeing of the population, people who create jobs, people who pay taxes, people who uphold the stated values of the Constitution--that country is on a downhill course.
    Whichever Anonymous asked the question about prison got the answer from Rinker--sure, any one of us could go to prison for no good reason. You, Anonymous, could go to prison for no good reason, and so could I, and Rinker, apparently, did.

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  8. Rinker, what was the government's explanation for imprisoning you and placing you under house arrest? Was there any logic to it at all? Were you compensated for the mistake? The physician in Newberry, Dr. Nguyen, to whom a commenter referred previously, ended up countersuing for the damages caused to the doctor's reputation, saying that despite winning the countersuit the effect on his/her reputation (the "shame" was the term used by that anonymous writer) could not be undone. What about you? How have you survived the damage to your life and career? This whole set of self-reports is bizarre.

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  9. Let me just be brief with regards to my case because the point I want to make is about our loss of liberty in this country and since this is not my blog…. In my case, I was home alone when a patrol car pulled up into my yard. I walked out to greet the officer and I was arrested within the next 30 seconds. I was accused of a crime that I had no knowledge of. The prosecutor is not required to say anything at all. I was never formally charged with a crime but the criminal court had complete control over my movements while accusations against me where investigated. I absolutely think it is better to have some evidence before an arrest is made rather than to not have. My sister was killed and I was not allowed to attend her funeral. Isn’t that a punishment before due process? Someone saying something about you is not evidence of anything, is it? If the neighbor kid says, “he hit me” and you say, “No, I didn’t” and there is no witness; isn’t that a draw? Every ten year old in the world knows that is how that works. No, I didn’t get compensated. I spent a lot of money and I didn’t enjoy any of it. How does that correlate to my right to the pursuit of happiness?

    The difference between my case and Dr. Nguyen’s case was that his prosecutor filed Information (formal charges) and he was indicted but then the charges were dropped. He also proved wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement in his case. The rules change once formal charges are filed and the case enters into the prosecution phase. During the prosecution phase the defense attorney can motion for discovery, which affords the attorney and his client the opportunity to view whatever evidence exists and allows the defense to interview the witnesses. The prosecutor assigned to my case filed No Information due to insufficient evidence and ordered that all evidence be destroyed. He dropped me like a hot potato.

    What I especially don’t like is that I was arrested but somehow I was not declared innocent. I now have a police record. I am eligible to get my record expunged for a fee. But why do that when my mug shot is on the World Wide Web? I’m wearing a black and white striped collarless shirt and my grandchildren’s grandchildren will be able to see me wearing it. I’m looking forward to that, wouldn’t you? Certainly, being arrested put a lot of stress on me at work and when I’m alone I wonder how an American citizen could be arrested at home for doing nothing wrong at all. Where was the arrest warrant or search warrant that the Bill of Rights calls for?

    We, The People, have a huge problem in this country with our judicial system. Our citizens must stop voting to give away their rights. Every right that we give up becomes the right of the opposition and it will be used against each one of us eventually. We no longer have the right to a speedy trial as we can be arrested and held indefinitely without council. What Say You?

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