A Society of Haters?

I was reading the news on line this morning and noticed that the 13 year old girl (Rebbecca Black) who has a YouTube song about the weekend will soon surpass Justin Bieber's song "Baby" as the most hated. I have not seen Justin Bieber's video and have not heard the song all the way through (my niece and nephews can occasionally be heard singing, "baby, baby, baby"). I have seen a part of Black's video. __________________ My daughter called me into the study a week or so ago to watch something she said was "appalling". I watched a clip of what my daughter had obviously watched in its entirety several times... I feel certain that she is one of the many who have "hated" this video. It's interesting, however mediocre the song, that anyone would be interested in "hating" the efforts of a thirteen year old girl. When I said as much to my daughter she replied that if the girl didn't want to be hated that she shouldn't have put herself out there. Hmmm... When my own daughter "put herself out there" it was in the context of performances at church (flute) which, in the early days, were well... mediocre. She wasn't "hated", however, she was loved and encouraged. ________________________ I notice that a lot of hating that happens on the web. I get my news from the Internet and at the bottom of most articles is a space for commenting. There are typically hundreds of comments, most of them full of sarcasm and hate. Maybe it's just the really angry people who feel moved to comment... It's bad enough that we feel we have to compound the bad news we hear in the news with our own tirades full of hate, but I think we cross a line when we think we have to let a 13 year old girl know that we don't like her video. I'm betting that most folk's efforts at 13 were mediocre at best (I know mine were). ________________________ There are many indications that our society is in bad shape. I think this propensity to be haters is one of the more troubling. I don't know about you, but I do not want to be defined by what I'm against or what I hate. Instead, I want people to know what I'm for - what I love.