The Week We Love to Hate - April 3, 2008

According to George Orwell (who seems more and more prescient every day), April 4 marks the beginning of Hate Week, which made sure the citizens of 1984's Oceania were expressing their hatred for whomever Big Brother decided needed hating. While we can't imagine a modern leader actually trying to whip up those feelings or create phony enemies -- and we deplore acting out hatred in violent ways -- we have to admit that an annual celebration of all the things we love to hate, are supposed to hate, or just downright can't stand is pretty tempting. Fortunately, The Spark provides a healthy outlet for such feelings, and faithful readers may remember that we've made no secret of those things that we could certainly do without: cell phones, banished words, NASCAR, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, bad movies, telemarketers, Tim McCarver, Hannah Montana, and High School Musical. ("Do without"? No, those last three we outright hate; let's not mince words). But hate is such a negative emotion. We should probably try to concentrate on things we like, such as baseball, heartwarming animal stories, cartoons, old movies, The Beatles, and, um... we're sure there's more.... There must be. Just give us a second.... Oh, never mind! It's a helluva lot more fun to hate something and really rag on it than it is to try to look for the positive -- so down with Emmanuel Goldstein! Suggested Sites... Wikipedia: George Orwell - if he's Big Brother's father, does that make him Big Uncle? Spark Notes: 1984 - 1984 is so 80s, but if you must study it... Hate-watching, explained - we can't stand it, but we can't look away. 100 Things You Probably Hate - See? It's not just us ... 50 Things You Do Every Day That Annoy Other People - even your best friends won't tell you.