An Open Letter to HBO and Bill Maher | Re: Toxicity of Hatred
Once again, the complete non-humor of the politics of hatred is on full and ugly display. This time it involves HBO and their show Real Time with Bill Maher.
Since June of 2018, Bill Maher has repeatedly announced that he is in favor of a recession – even hoping for one – as long as it results in the removal of Donald Trump from office.
“I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point,” he said, “and by the way, I’m hoping for it because I think one way you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy. So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people, but it’s either root for a recession or you lose your democracy.”
Maher exposed his pretentious arrogance by doubling down on this position in August of 2019, asserting that an economic recession in the United States would be welcomed if it stopped Donald Trump from being reelected in 2020.
““We’ve had forty-seven recessions in the past and managed to recover from them all””
“We’ve had forty-seven recessions in the past and managed to recover from them all,” he glibly postulated. Recovered, Bill, but at what cost? Sorry if that hurts people sounds totally disingenuous to me. His studio audience responded with an eruption of stupefying applause, which is disheartening but not surprising, given the astonishing toxicity levels of hatred in our country.
Any honest cultural observer should be increasingly disturbed by the lack of civility in our public discourse and the level of hatred displayed against those who disagree with one’s position.
Let’s face it: the measure of vitriol, hostility, venom, and downright nastiness are off the charts.
I fear this has become so normal that we stand in gross negligence of the disastrous, deceiving, destructive effects of hatred – whether in the human soul or in the public square.
“Is this a political statement? Absolutely not. No, this is insight into one of the major maladies of the human heart.”
Is this a political statement? Absolutely not. No, this is insight into one of the major maladies of the human heart.
Titus 3:3 correctly diagnoses our predispositions: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
Look inside: I think that speaks to you and me. It reads like the front pages of most newspapers in our world today.
Bill Maher is free to say what he pleases because we live in America where our First Amendment rights are protected. Yet his comments display not only colossal ignorance, but also a huge disconnect from the plight of the common man.
Since Maher’s yearly salary is in the range of eight figures, it is unlikely that a recession would greatly impact him. Insulated by wealth, he is completely oblivious to the crippling effect that a recession would have on the majority of working-class Americans. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill Maher may get his wish of a recession, or worse.
The immense economic and personal suffering of people out of work – wondering how they will pay their rent and other bills, worrying over how they will put food on their tables – is only a secondary concern to the fulfilling of Maher’s political agenda and the satisfying of his personal hatred.
The Toxin of Hatred
The most vivid and detailed case study in the Bible of the effects and workings of hatred on the human heart is found in the Book of Esther. This little treasure reads like a tale lifted from the pages of The Arabian Nights. State banquets, week-long drinking parties, domestic disputes, political intrigue, beauty contests, rising stars, plots and conspiracies, manipulation of government, matters of life and death, and the self-sacrificial choice to do the right thing.
In the midst of it all we are introduced to Haman, a man filled with hatred and unreasoning rage. Haman was an adept political operative who managed to get himself appointed to the second-highest position in the Persian government as the king’s Chief of Staff.
“In the midst of it all we are introduced to Haman, a man filled with hatred and unreasoning rage. ”
Despite that position, the king had to issue a command for Haman to be shown a higher degree of respect and deference – so apparently, Haman was just another obnoxious bureaucrat.
The target of Haman’s hatred was a displaced Jew named Mordecai who lived in the Persian capital of Shushan. Mordecai was adopted father, counselor, and spiritual mentor to his orphaned niece, Esther.
The story of the king falling in love with Esther and making her his wife and queen was front page news, making her quite popular – but nobody knew she was related to Mordecai.
While the rest of the king’s subjects bowed down before Haman, Mordecai steadfastly refused to pay him homage – even when his companions pointed out that this was the king’s edict.
Mordecai was civil, but as a Jew he wouldn’t bow to any but the one true God. As it usually does, word of this perceived disrespect got back to Haman, whose ego demanded to know the truth. Esther 3:3 says, “When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage.” As this statement clearly shows, the origins and workings of hatred are fueled by pride. Haman was suffering from significant Mordecai-derangement syndrome. He was furious.
“Humble people are not always looking at themselves,” Tim Keller said. “They’re not always standing on their own dignity. They can laugh at themselves and, as a result, they learn fast. When something goes wrong, they actually look for what they have done wrong. Even if it’s not mainly their fault, if it’s partly their fault, they find it and learn from it and grow so fast. Proud people don’t.”
Hatred refers to intense dislike, extreme aversion, and hostility. It becomes a fixed mental condition that harms the mind, the body, and the soul. If it is allowed to remain, it will also destroy a person’s relationship with God.
““Humble people are not always looking at themselves””
It is stunning that for Haman, this single slight by Mordecai drowned out and silenced the non-stop chorus of praise and reverence bestowed on him by everyone else. Like a single cloud can block out the rays of the sun, so hatred can also darken the landscape of the soul.
Like it or not, hatred will set you on a path of self-destruction. This is the life lesson of Haman. Along the way, hatred will also entangle others in its poisonous web.
When Haman discovered that Mordecai was a Jew, it was no longer enough to target Mordecai alone. Why not plot genocide against Mordecai’s people, the whole Jewish race? He devises a plot to quell a false Jewish uprising while increasing the king’s treasuries:
“Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, ‘There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So, it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it pleases the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give ten thousand large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.” Esther 3: 8-9
The king agrees, and the following verses showcase hatred’s widespread cultural affects: “The king and Haman sat back and had a drink while the city of Susa reeled from the news.” (Esther 3: 14). Other translations say the city was “bewildered” or “fell into confusion.”
As I’ve often said, things are far more spiritual than you think. Consider the fact that we are dealing with hatred; that hatred is the offspring of pride, and that pride is what made the devil the devil. Hatred gives the devil a foothold in the soul: a spiritual strategic base of operations. This truth should inform and concern us all.
Poisonous Chain Reaction
The Book of Esther is valuable because it puts Haman’s thought process under the microscope, giving us the opportunity to walk through the anatomy of hatred – what it does and how it operates.
#1: Hatred consumes.
Surprisingly, Haman was having a good day. He left the palace “joyful and with a glad heart.” All it took was one thing to rob him of his happiness: “But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear for his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai.” (Esther 5:9) Haman went home and indulged in a pity party. He bragged to his wife and friends of his new advancements in the kingdom but concluded: “All this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.” (Esther 5: 13) The one thing he did not have spoiled all that he did have. Hatred consumes the hater.
#2: Hatred knows no boundaries.
In Esther 5:14 we read, “His wife Zeresh and all his friends said, ‘Build a gallows seventy-five feet high. First thing in the morning speak with the king; get him to order Mordecai hanged on it. Then happily go with the king to dinner.” Haman likes the idea and gives the order, intending to get a warrant to carry it out in the morning.
My question to you is: "just how much rope do you need to hang a person"?
Just a few inches more than a person’s height would work. Why 75 feet? Because hatred violates all boundaries; it crosses the thresholds of common sense.
#3: Hatred blinds and warps our perspective.
The next day the king is up and at work early after a sleepless night. He was reading the daily logs of the kingdom and found that an assassination plot against his life was foiled with the help of a man named Mordecai. What was done for this man in return? Nothing. It was overlooked. Hmmm. Who is in the court? Haman has just come in. Haman is a pretty smart guy; ask him to come here for a moment. The king poses this question to Haman: “What shall be done for the man that the king delights to honor?” Haman thinks, Hey, who else would the king delight to honor more than me?” (Esther 6:6)
In his warped mind, he completely overestimates his influence, so he pours it on thick. "If the King wants to publicly honor a man, let him be arrayed in the royal garments, put him on the king’s horse, and parade him throughout the capital city with someone proclaiming, 'Here is the man the King delights to honor!' The king loves it and drops the bomb: 'That’s great! Go at once and do exactly that to Mordecai – and don’t leave anything out!'" (Esther 6: 7-10)
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Not Mordecai. Anyone but Mordecai.
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Not Mordecai. Anyone but Mordecai.”
Haman is forced to lead Mordecai on the horse through the streets of Shushan, making this great proclamation about him – then he “hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.” (Esther 6:12)
#4. Hatred destroys the hater
Haman’s plot is uncovered. His deceitful plan to execute Mordecai and exterminate the Jews comes to light. Needless to say, the king is not happy, and in an example of poetic justice, Haman’s plot returns on his own head. Esther 7:9-10 says, “Then Harbona (Har-bone-ah) said to the King, ‘The gallows Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, seventy-five feet high. And the king said, “Hang him on that. So, they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.”
This is what hatred does: it destroys the one doing the hating. In the end, Haman lost his life, he lost his ten sons, and he lost his estate and holdings – which were given to Mordecai.
Hatred will exact a heavy price from our lives if we give place to it.
The Cure: Divine Intervention
The king gives Mordecai and Esther his signet ring, and they write the declaration that turns the very day of their proposed extinction into a day of feasting and rejoicing over the deliverance from their enemies. The Jewish people celebrate that divine deliverance to this day on the Feast of Purim.
God delights in taking the very things the enemy designs for our destruction and for thwarting the purposes of God and turning the tables on him for the good and for the victory of His people.
“God delights in taking the very things the enemy designs for our destruction and for thwarting the purposes of God and turning the tables on him for the good and for the victory of His people.”
Dale Carnegie once observed, “When we hate our enemies, we give them power over us – power over our sleep, our appetites, our happiness. They would dance with joy if they knew how much they were worrying us. Our hate is not hurting them at all, but it is turning our days and our nights into hellish turmoil.”
Some of the greatest, most hope-filled words are found in Titus 3:4-7. First, Paul describes the shipwreck of the human race: “We also were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hatful and hating one another.” What follows is so dynamic: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” What made the difference in our lives? When the “kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.” Nothing short of a divine intervention can meet the need of our corrupt hearts.
I still remember the night when God’s love and kindness came to me on November 15, 1970. What’s awesome is that over and over and over again since then, His love has sustained me. And the truth that shines here is that it is not the result of what we can do for God, but it is the reality of what He’s already done for us through Jesus Christ. He’s given us a new birth, the constant renewing and transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
When that fills your heart, then you find very little room to give place to hatred or to any of the works of the flesh. It’s not just trying to flip an emotional switch. It is the fruit of a divine encounter.
As a result, you can purposefully draw near to God. Hatred is of the devil. Therefore, the only cure is cultivating the habit of drawing near to God. As we do, we find the power to deliberately practice forgiveness for others as we have been forgiven by Him. We find power to exercise good will toward people – even toward those who might not agree with us.
HBO and Bill Maher endorse a disastrous policy because they are blinded by their hatred and by their ignorance to what really is going on in the lives of others.
I pray that the seeds of hatred will not be allowed to take root and grow in any of our hearts. I pray that we may cultivate God’s presence so that we may become too full of Jesus for that to happen.
- Harold S Warner