I don’t know about your town, but in my town, these little signs are popping up all over, admonishing us that “Hate Has No Business Here.” The yard sign version says “Hate Has No Home Here.”
Now, why would you need these signs unless you thought the town was chock-full of “haters” in need of your instruction?
Entering the YMCA today, I saw one of those signs on the door. So I asked at the desk: “What is ‘hate’?” They didn’t know. They were embarrassed. They directed me to their supervisor. After some hemming and hawing, she revealed (1) “Oh, the Chamber of Commerce gave us those signs to put up” and (2) “It’s just about everybody being kind and welcoming to everybody else.”
“Who hasn’t been doing that?” I asked.
“Well, you know!”
“No, I don’t. Tell me.”
“Um, it’s like, well, people in the parking lot angrily honking at each other because they want a parking space.”
I don’t think mere obstreporating ought to qualify as “hate,” but by now I realized I wasn’t going to get any answers more coherent than that.
Somebody else asked me why I didn’t like the signs. “It’s too Red China/Big Brother for me,” I said. “Especially when nobody can explain what they mean by ‘hate.’ Are they trying to get rid of a basic human emotion? Or is it Democrat-speak for ‘Thou shalt not vote for Trump’? I don’t like a bunch of faceless liberals telling me how I ought to behave–especially when they themselves have been spouting real, hot hate non-stop since Election Night.”
Now I wonder what will happen if I ask them if I can put up a “John 3:16” sign somewhere on the premises of what is formally known as the Young Men’s Christian Association.
What do you want to bet they’ll say no?