Love to Hate

Hating on things, mostly popular culture-related, is something I love to do and I think I'm pretty good at. Two of my favorite Haters right now are The Onion AV Club's Amelie Gillette who has her own hater blog on the site and the Washington Post's TV columnist Lisa de Moraes. There's something about a female touch to hating that makes it even more enjoyable.

Anyway, with all of this hating going on in the public sphere I thought I would jot down some of my thoughts on the Art of Hating.

Qualifications:
What does it take to be a Hater? I don't think there are any hard and fast rules but some of the key elements are, I believe, a good sense of humor, an even better sense of irony, a cynical/pessimistic disposition, a strong platform of opinions from which to spring forth your hate, and an ability to reference and juxtapose cultural phenomena at a skill level somewhere between adroit and masterful.

Subject Matter:
What does one "hate on?" Mostly pop culture and the people within it. All hate is derived from the initial instances of celebrity popular culture but it does work its way down into the masses. Myself, I don't spend a lot of time hating on the likes of say Paris Hilton or "American Idol." These are extremely hate-worthy topics but there are a lot of good professional haters out there covering this material. My beat is mostly the local scene; hating on the everyday absurdities I get to personally witness. It's more personal and I'm highly qualified to cover them since it is my life.

Why Hate?:
Why not? Hating makes us feel better about ourselves. Hating amuses others in our company. Hating is fun. Sure it is rooted deepy in a yawning chasm of inadequacy and self-loathing, but why go there. Keep it light, keep it topical, and it's all just fun and games.

The Irony of it All:
We (yes, I am lumping myself in with the Haters) are iconoclasts with no real icons. It's sort of silly to tear down people and things that will fizzle on their own soon enough, but who cares. It's fun and it makes us feel better about themselves.

So anyway, that's my taking on the activity of Hating.