I was watching E! News the other day (Don't judge... it's my guilty pleasure) and they were - shocker - talking about celebrities. In particular, Justin Bieber. There was some scandal involving him, I don't remember the details, but the point is that one of the anchors felt the need to say that he is a Bieber supporter - and I don't think he meant his music.
It is no secret that half of the talk about Bieber involves some type of hate, whether it be about his music or his scandalous reputation. I, for one, don't understand any of it.
If you would have asked me a year ago - no, maybe even a month ago - for me to make a list of the five celebrities I hated, I would have done it with no hesitations and probably with accompanying stick figure doodles. But it was E! News and a few online gossip articles that got me thinking about what hate really means. Hate is a strong word. We really take it for granted. We point it at food that tastes funky to us, we use it to describe our feelings towards homework, but most often we associate it with other human beings.
I do believe that there are instances where "hate" can be used to describe your feelings towards someone. But the only instances that involve that are when you have a personal relationship with that person or know them through association with others. They may have done you or someone you care about wrong and that, I believe, is a good reason to use "hate," albeit sparingly. Don't use it if a guy broke up with your best friend - call him a jerkwad or the slew of other creative nicknames that come to mind.
Hate in relation to celebrities is an entirely different case. There is a strong chance that the celebrity you claim to hate is one who you have never spoken to or even seen in person. It is understandable to forget that they are people sometimes. They appear on our televisions and on the glossy covers of tabloids, far away from our mediocre lives. They are entities, they are larger than life, they are rich as hell and we constantly wonder how that is. But they are also people. People with feelings. When you write a blog about how much you can't stand Miley and her obsession with twerking and how much you hate her for getting all this attention, you don't realize that there is a person on the receiving end of that rant. Think of it this way: Would you tell the head cheerleader at your high school that you hate her guts and wish she would die because she was a slut and had everything you secretly wanted? In most cases no, you wouldn't. If you are the person who would do that, congratulations. You're about as mature as a fourteen-year-old.
If you genuinely don't like someone, that's fine. If you don't like an artist's music, that's fine. If you don't agree with some of the things they're doing, that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Everyone is entitled to share those opinions. But think before you talk or post about it. Think about if you really hate the person you're talking about or just get a bad vibe from them. Hate is a strong, hurtful word. This can apply when you're talking about someone in your life or someone as far away as Beverly Hills. I can do a whole other post about cyber bullying so I won't talk too much about that - I think you get the gist of that issue.
Moral of the story: Think before you speak. Do unto others as you would do unto yourself. Or your best friend. Or parent. Put a face to person that you're talking about and imagine them reading what you wrote or listening to what you said. Put yourself in their shoes. Does it feel good? Do you enjoy hearing people say they hate you without even knowing you?
