''Hate'' is a complex ''soup''........

It seems to me these days, that watching the News can

be a more terrifying and horrifying experience than watching

a Horror movie of the most bloodiest and gruesome kind.

Horror movies, we all know are manufactured horror, "make-belief''

stories, but the News....are not.

A week ago, one after the other of horrific images from 

Christchurch, New Zealand, flooded the News here in Australia.

One aspect of the footage that made it extra horrific (in my view)

was that the shooter filmed the events and provided a

running commentary which he streamed live to different media

platforms. A commentary, mind you, consisting of despicable and

hateful words as he fired shot after shot into

a multitude of defenseless men, women, and children.

In this case it was a mosque, but it could just as easily have been

a church, a temple, or any other kind of space where people

gather together. (A school, a shopping center, a mall, a park,

a music festival, a club, etc.etc.)

At this point you may think: ''These kinds of events have 

been happening for years, so...what's so special about this one?''

My answer to that is; the sheer brazenness of the shooter and

the fact that some of the media platforms actually allowed his

footage to be shown. 

Whatever ''righteous'' (sarcasm) or ''justified'' reasons the 

shooter/terrorist told himself in order to justify (if he even did that) his

violent and deadly actions, .....let me to go out on a limb here

and suggest that....... the main driving and motivational force behind

his actions, was hate. (Although probably interspersed with a subconscious

need for a pinch of notoriety.)

Hate, in my view, is a complex ''soup'' that consists of many ingredients.

''Soupe de haine''

(Hate soup)

Step one: Find a ''human vessel'' (saucepan) and fill it with water (pain).

              Step two: Peel four onions (childhood experiences) layer by

        layer, and dice them into small pieces and drop them into

the human vessel. (Soupe de haine)

Step three: Stir vigorously.                                         

       Step four: Take two stock cubes (major traumatic events),

crumble them so that they dissolve and become 

''one'' with the pain and onions (childhood experiences).

     Step five: Slice five carrots (disappointments) thinly and

drop into the soupe de haine whilst making sure the soup

 does not boil over. Keep the soup just under boiling point.

Step six: Take a head of garlic and peel it into segments. 

(each segment representing a rejection of some kind)

Chop the segments into small pieces and mix into the soup.

Step seven: Take a head of cauliflower and break it into

florets. (each floret representing: bias, prejudice, ignorance, 

judgementalism, callousness, insensitivity, etc.etc.)

Stir vigorously.

Step eight: Take four large potatoes (=hope) peel them, then cut 

them into even sized wedges so that they will crumble and mix 

 evenly with the rest of the ingredients.

Step nine: Turn up the heat.(heat=anger)                          

Step 10: Stir vigorously until all ingredients have become

indiscernible from each other.

Step 11: Add spices (salt=fear, black pepper=loneliness, 

paprika=hopelessness, cayenne pepper=feelings of powerlessness)

Step 12: Simmer on low heat for a long time.                                          

Bon appetit!

''Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.''
(Martin Luther King Jr.)