The Hate Train

Chapped Ass

Not all drugs are bad.
Oct 23, 2013
Growing up in the United States it always seemed like there was an unspoken social reward for being a pessimistic, glass-is-half-empty kind of person. In school and work interactions, a good way to break the ice was to speak negatively about someone or something you know wasn't popular. It was the fast track to becoming a noticed and accepted member of a group. And it carried with it very little risk. In some eastern cultures, the opposite is true. You pay an immediate price for behaving as if you aren't having a good time.

But in either case, culture defines what is socially acceptable, what is most highly treasured, and what is outright frowned upon. But who tells culture what is valuable? That's the question I wrestle with lately. Why is it acceptable to tell a coworker you feel like shit, but it's 'weird' to tell them you cried watching a movie last night?

I'll admit, I'm a hippy at heart. The shit we do to each other in this fucking society baffles me because what goes around comes around. The lack of care we show them today is the lack of care we get back from them tomorrow. I understand the need to be tough. It's a tough world....but it's a whole lot tougher than it needs to be when we ourselves are the architects of our own suffering.

People who have been on social media for more than 5 years....hasn't there been a noticable difference in the discourse between us? We've started a full fledged war with titles. Defending the ones we identify with and attacking those we don't as if no good could or has ever come from the latter, and no evil could or has ever come from the former. Am I the only one worried by this? Maybe it's just my personal feeds that are experiencing this, but there's a fuck-ton of hate being tossed around, and it's growth seems exponential.

And no one is immune to it. As I write this from a supposed outside observer's perspective, I'm reminded of the hate I felt when a respected loved one turned full (add useless title here). I grew up with them. Played softball, shared burdens, helped each other through hard times....and now I'm a piece of shit who they won't bother themselves with anymore because I'm a (useless title). Well, FUCK them. I hope they suffer under the rule of their new (useless title) masters and choke on it!

Except, I can't help but get this shaky feeling like we're all being taken for a ride here. I get the feeling that somewhere, someone is benefiting from all this hate they generated and is laughing all the way to the bank. And whether it's true or not, it gives me just enough pause to realize that my actions don't have to reflect my environment, or even my immediate situational surroundings.

I'mma just watch the next hate train go by. Maybe wave to some friends I see that have boarded ahead of me.

I hope I see them again, someday.
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Jan 1, 2008
Somewhere out there.
If you feel like removing yourself from the current social climate that "appears" to be over heated, then that is the right thing for you to do ... for you. Maybe the salvos of the ignorant social mobs are hitting too close to you and people you care about making you feel this way.

Or, maybe you are just getting older and changing, as this is the natural order for most of us.

I personally do not fully agree with your assessment of "noticeable difference in the discourse", not really. Its noticeable but not out of the normal when compared to other social change times in recent history (if we factor out the internet "viral" thing) When I was a poor kid growing up in shit kicker Mississippi I used to like to go to the library and spend hours on the machine that lets you view news papers, an old clunker of a machine, manually operated, etc. We had a particularly large collection of civil war era documents and they were fairly brutal on the Union, and Lincoln in general, as I remember. Same goes for all major timeline events up to the early 80's if i recall correctly. News rags with a public editorial department were the Twitter of their time.

To me this all appears as yet another cyclic social upheaval. I too took a look around about a decade ago and decided to be less involved in the less important things, but now? Now I feel like I'm coming back online after being in sleep mode.

Just hang on man, Trump will be gone in 2024. I feel he is the catalyst for a lot of the current vitriol, NOT the inventor, just the igniter of what was simmering so expect it to get a bit worse before it gets better. (my opinion)


Baked daily
Oct 5, 2017
I think this has a lot to do with how we view the current social climate and how it affects our perspective of others.

I've noticed people of our e-generation, where we grew up pre-social media, have more of a negative view on the world and of others around us. We are more likely to want to separate ourselves from people with a minor difference of lifestyle or opinion. At the same time, younger e-generations who were born into this environment are the ones who have been using these platforms as a spring board into changes in the real world around them and generally have a more optimistic view on life and are more likely to embrace differences.


May 28, 2009
I don't know if I'm getting the full idea here, but I think in general, if somebody challenges your ideas in a way that negatively impacts you or even the way you feel, maybe it's time to turn down a different road.
I've never really been one to protest, and on occasion I've been asked to participate in protests. The protests I was asked to participate in were those that either cut a person or group of people down, or those that required the protesters to hurt somebody on some level whether it be mentally, physically or emotionally.
I don't agree with forcing anybody to do what I do, even if I know that what I'm doing is good for me. So? When somebody tries to manipulate me into doing what they do by threatening me, "I won't be friends with you if you don't agree with me," I think to myself, "fuck em'."
Somebody trying to make me be like them was never any friend of mine to begin with.
I do see a lot of "do this or I'll hate you" bullshit, but I can't say I see any spike in it happening more or less often.
I try to remember, believing what I believe and doing what I do makes me who I am. It doesn't make Betty who she is; if Betty wants me to be like her and I say no, she can get the fuck over it or get the fuck out. :) I like the way I think, and people come and go. There will always be some dick that wants me to pick a side...
But at the end of the day, the only side for me is my own side.

I hope I didn't miss some point... I just think, social media will always be a place for people to be pitted against each other.