America Suffering From Severe Case of ‘Hateration’
By Todd A. Smith
“All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point.”
Those were the controversial remarks by LeBron James about hating and contrary to popular opinion he is absolutely correct, despite being wrong for expressing it.
The American public has a bad case of hating on celebrities, and although most will not admit, it comes from jealousy and the fact that these individuals are living a lifestyle that most only dream about.
Simply surf the Internet and visit websites such as YouTube or online comments from any Internet publication and one will see that most comments towards public figures are negative and hateful. Some have even gone as far as wishing death upon people whom they have never met, simply because those people are famous.
If a musician’s CD does not sell well, bloggers hate on that particular person, calling them talentless or a “loser.” It is almost safe to say that the person calling them talentless, does not have an ounce of talent in their body, so who is the real loser.
Many began hating on James because of his subpar performance in the NBA Finals, but many of those critics have not played competitive organized basketball a day in their lives, making them unqualified to dish out criticism.
Nevertheless, James was wrong for insinuating that happiness and success is just financial and implying that regular people are the only people with real problems. Being rich does not alleviate life’s problems and having a computer or a radio does not mean everyone should have a voice.
Most online critics or radio callers would never have the guts to say to a celebrities’ face what they say under the anonymity of the Internet or radio and therefore the criticism is nothing more than hating.
And like James said, after a person is through hating on him he will still be one of the best and most influential people ever to lace up a pair of sneakers and most of those doing the hating will still be living in oblivion.
Many people will say that hating is simply misguided admiration and I believe that is very true. We hate on James and other celebrities because they can do what we cannot do and they live a lifestyle that we would love to live.
Unfortunately, it is a shame that many resort to hating because they are too insecure to show the love and admiration that they really feel towards that celebrity and have the nerve to criticize them when that same celebrity puts the shoe on the other foot.
Smith is publisher of Regal Black Men’s Magazine, a publication dedicated to the African American community.
