A lot of beer drinkers will never drink Bud Light again because the company aired a trans woman. Once. That was 2 years ago, and judging from the comments sections in a Fox News bit done on it last week, the vitriol toward Anheiseur Busch (or ABInBev as they now call themselves) has not lessened.
I applaud anyone who stands by their values, but what’s really going on here? A boycott like this is not a hatred of Bud Light; it’s a hatred of trans people. And what’s crazy is most of these boycotters have never met a trans person, and because of how they’ve decided to live their lives, they probably never will.
I’ve trying to look inside myself on this one, instead of just pointing a finger.
As much as I hate to admit it (to myself as well as my 8-year-old daughter), I hate things. And I guess I hate people, too.
I certainly hate Donald Trump. I’ve boycotted Snoop Dogg for dancing a jig at Trump’s pre-inauguration party. I’m off of Amazon (well, mostly), I’m off Facebook. And just like some people who won’t ever buy a Bud Light again, I will never buy a Tesla.
Is this the same thing? Hating on people I’ve never met?
Trump, Musk, Snoop, Bezos, Zuck.
I canceled them.
I’m a hater.
But I’d venture to say I’m a hater of hateful things. I’m a hater of people with power who use that power only to gain more power. I’m a hater of cowards with platforms in the limelight who flip to save themselves and leave the rest of us to suffer. I’m a hater of policy that hurts the majority of a country but is positioned as its saving grace. I’m a hater of the crescendoing rampage of late-stage capitalism and the fact that any inkling of kindness toward others has been vilified as, God forbid, socialism.
Trump and his regime are eliminating programs that save lives so they can put more money in their own pockets — which, honestly, I still don’t understand. They’re creating enemies out of allies, they’re inspiring tyrants to dig in to their own hateful agendas, they’re encouraging nationalism to take hold in the most powerful of places.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico? What more can you expect from a guy who gets satisfaction from putting his name on buildings?
Yeah, I hate Trump, but I don’t think this hatred is the same as the hatred of Dylan Mulvaney.
Trump’s behavior and worldview have been on display for over a decade. I don’t know Trump, but I know what he believes, who he likes and who he doesn’t, what his priorities are, who he chooses as partners and friends, how he views America, what he wishes it to be, and the lengths he will go to destroy people’s lives.
Dylan Mulvaney just wanted to live her life. Out in the open.
And the hatred toward this life-affirming request has brought down an entire company (well, really, just one brand, which is mostly ineffectual since AB InBev owns 600+ beer brands).
Trump uses the hate of others as his throne. His gold shimmers as our souls darken.
But we must remember and acknowledge that all hate is not the same: Hate and Hatred-of-Hate, these are not equal in measure.
Hatred-of- Hate needs a new name; it’s tragic but also productive, like a snake eating its own tail.
The hard part is knowing that my hate, however righteous I believe it to be, will not be able to consume the hate that’s out there; it will only add to it.
So here I am, filling up with hate, trying like hell to find a way to love the people who support the haters doing their hateful deeds so I can be whole again.
Every day is a fight to stay on the right side of love.
Because, like Dylan Mulvaney, like the snake, I just want to live.