Thursday, May 30, 2013

You can't hate an exception (one bad apple).

c0 One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, girl. I'm troubled by good things that go bad, and the temptation to judge the remaining good things by the turning of a few.

We can't avoid good things going bad, but we can avoid thereby judging a class of things or people or ideas.

We don't stop eating apples because we find a bad one in the fruit bowl. We don't stop going to school because we had one bad teacher. We don't stop reading because we encountered a crummy book.[1]

But we do use other people's pain to justify our hate, especially toward clerics, political parties, friends, and other groups of humans that can be defined by how they look, talk, or believe.

You can't hate an exception that hurt someone else anymore than you can hate tacos because they made your best friend sick.

c0

What's worse than finding a worm in an apple? Finding half a worm.

c0

The Osmonds (1972) - Opening (One Bad Apple)
 

c0

[1]
Of course, if we're treated to an especially repulsive experience, we will respond angrily to symbols of that revulsion: An alcoholic parent, a dog bite, food poisoning, etc.

Sometimes the pain runs so deep, we can't see past it. That's understandable for the victim, but not those commiserating with him or her.

c0

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