17 November 2012

Hateland, Social Media and Kim Kardashian

Hateland is occupying us I fear.

It is the place in our hearts that reserves the right to hate others that have an opinion different from ours.

I guess everyone's heart has in it the seeds of hate, but the permission to sprout is ours to grant.

Once sprouted, the root system from person to person is watered by social media.

I love social media, because it is passion-neutral. It can be used to spread impassioned hate or healing love.

Yesterday morning, Kim Kardashian tweeted to her 17 million followers that she was "praying for everyone in Israel."

Hateland took center stage, directing her to "die in hell" and described her as a "disgrace to her people."

Who, exactly, are her people?

Was the prayer the offense--or was it Israel?

Do we gently but firmly stand our ground in Hateland or do we back down?

Kardashian deleted the Israel tweet, posted that she was praying for those in Palestine and across the world, then deleted that tweet, and ended the day with a message on her blog; she apologized for offending some but added that her intentions were to pray for those innocent people caught in the crossfire.

Jesus entered Hateland 2,000 years ago so we are not inventing anything new. He offended and offended big. He stuck to his story--called a spade a spade--and offered love to grow in the place of hate.

We didn't listen then; in fact, we tried to kill off Love.

At the end of the day, I guess we can only help the love seeds in our heart sprout, while keeping check on the seeds of hate that lie dormant, ready to germinate at a social media moment's notice.

I think Kardashian stood her ground, even while apologizing. I hope 17 million people took a breath and considered that praying for innocent people caught in the crossfire of hate is a powerful social media risk worth taking.

Hateland doesn't have to take us down.

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