I make an effort to say "I hate it when people". I hate it when people are rude, I hate it when people waste things excessively, I hate it when people treat me a certain way, I hate it when people litter.
I try not to say, "I hate litterers". Because who am I to say, you could be a great person who drops your garbage in a manner I highly dislike.
I wouldn't say, "I hate people who ask me lots of questions about my family" when you, asking me questions about my family, are simply curious. I've had friends ask me questions about my family that made me embarrassed. And I got annoyed. But I don't hate my friends.
So as a short explanation, I correct myself from saying "I hate people who..." because that's not what I mean. And I might, if we know each other well, correct you when you say, "I hate people who...", or I might ask you if that's what you really mean.
Maybe you believe it's acceptable to say "I hate people who j-walk" or "I hate people who like BTS" and not really mean you hate those people. Maybe this whole post is simply a young teenage girl being nit-picky about language. Maybe you find that annoying.
Or perhaps you agree with me, but you draw a line somewhere. Perhaps you would never say "I hate people who dress that way", but you would say, "I hate racist people".
And I'm not going to tell you to draw or not to draw the line there.
But I will say, more than racist people, I hate racism.
And I hate the way ignorance can affect our society when ignorant people are bigoted.
It makes me angry.
But more than those, I love.
I love that even amongst a world of ignorance, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, violence and many other things, there are people who have created art, spoken louder, and made spaces for others to do so.
So maybe it's not a question of whether you hate people or their action. Maybe it's not a question of whether or not you think the specific words people use matter, the nit-picky details.
Maybe it's a question of seeing past the things you hate. And it's so difficult to do that. On my blog, I sound so much more level-headed than I am. I'm discombobulated. And I find it really really hard to see past the things I hate. But if you see what you're doing; if you understand yourself, that's the first step in bettering the way you understand and the impact you have.
I don't know what this blog post turned into, but I kind of like it. I hope you did too, and I hope you read the whole thing :)
Onward,
-M