Hate has always been well represented in popular cinema - ever hear of "Birth of A Nation"?

"A long time ago I learned that people who say, 'Some of my best friends are Jewish (or black or latino)' simply use that as an excuse to hate the rest of them."

This was starred by the editor? For what reason? Insightful? Is this opposite day? Did I not get the memo?

Look, I too support marijuana decriminalization, but, dear editor, why don't you wait until after you read the reader letters to fire up the bong?

Some of my best friends are Jewish and Black and Latino. Shall I register with the Southern Poverty Law Center?

What a sad endorsement of a worthless sentiment. Color me disappointed.

If potheads "go quietly," then why are you on these message boards every fucking 30 minutes boo fucking hooing about legalizing pot so your fat, unemployed ass will have something to do besides seek gainful employment or--dare I say it--exercise? And when, praise Jesus, will they toss your fat, sorry ass in jail?

Boy, if you could see my ass -- you would fall over and die. It's pretty nice, actually. I'm rather proud of it.

I wonder what kind of person you are. What kind of people do you take care of? What sacrifices have you made for others?

I am the caretaker of two mentally ill adults who would be out on the streets without medication, eating out of garbage cans, if it weren't for me.

It's been really hard work, with a lot of emotional pain.

And I'm not fat. Depsite having several serious chronic inflammatory illnesses, I exercise regularly and eat well, so I actually have a muscular, athletic build.

I'm not unemployed -- I'm self employed.

I work hard. I have a pretty good output. So far I've built a pretty popular website, and I've heard some good comments on the special relativity book I co-wrote with my husband. For Cambridge University Press -- you know, the same people who have published Stephen Hawking.

Right now I'm working on two novels.

Oh yeah, and I've been married to the same man for 20 years.

Now tell me a little about yourself, for example what makes you so hateful and mean.

Whoever came up with the idea of unfiltered 'letters to the editor' was a flat. out. GEEnius. F*ck the articles...the articles are now a mere pretext for the free-for-all that is 'letters to the editor'. Even down to the goofy donkey-carrots of those pedantic little stars for a 'choice' selection of letters...totally effing brilliant (they probably let the janitor do those). If this ploy hasn't boosted advertizing revenue (while lowering Salon's overall profile), what can?

"Now tell me a little about yourself, for example what makes you so hateful and mean."

-- Patricia Schwarz

Patricia, he's 'hateful and mean' because he's a faceless avatar of the background radiation of ignorant rage and entropy that permeates modern life. You can't take his 'attack' any more personally than you would that of a barracuda or a poltergeist. The Internet has put you into contact with creatures with whom you'd never normally interface, and anonymity has made them bold and surly. Commenting on an 'article' about Mel Gibson and G.W. Bush's hate-filled America, you got a 'virtual' taste of it! You sound like an intellectually curious person...consider this a peculiar natural phenomenon and yourself lucky that it happened in 'cyberspace'. Had it happened in the zoo, you might've lost a finger!

PS what's the address of your website?

It's perfectly legal to make up any vile, abusive, horrible, hurtful, spiteful and defamatory thing you feel like saying about marijuana users in general, as a group.

But when you start to play that game with individuals, by name -- sorry, those individuals are protected by the laws on libel and slander.

So if you want to be an effective bully and intimidate people out of criticizing the marijuana laws online -- get to know your libel and slander laws first!

"So if you want to be an effective bully and intimidate people out of criticizing the marijuana laws online -- get to know your libel and slander laws first!"

Threats of legal actions just because someone thinks you're repetitious rants are predictable, almost 100% off-topic, and tiresome? And you have the nerve to call other people bullies? Don't spout off in a public forum if you can't take the criticism.

At some point, it's unproductive to dissect biogtry's many faces, I think. The process (often fact-based, I'm sure) seems to go off the rails into escalating piles of points and counterpoints.

But it might move us forward to recognize instances like Mel's as illustrating something tragic. Destructive and perniciious, absolutely, when it's promulgated, as with his crucifixion film. And anyone is free to hold a bigot accountable in whatever legal way they like. But the problem is also tragic for each individual bigot. It is such a cellular loss, to hate.

Since none of us, individually, can do anything about large groups of people who carry or spread biogtry, what CAN we do? We could try to challenge at a deep level how we, ourselves, respond to any bigotry that intersects our lives.

Everybody knows a person who's tormented by the hate-worm, and its main symptom the blame-worm.

We all know someone. Could be the bigotry is hung on politics, sexual identity, gender, war, race, money, or the cross. When it turns violent, prosecute and lock it up. But most of the time it's not. It's just carried around in the psyche and vented one scalding or subtle gesture at a time.

Where to start healing, I think, is in sitting with that person and loving them. No drama needed, nor dialogue. But compassion.

What if we don't just satisfy our legitimate need to respond by challenging our brains to do smart analyses of bigotry's manifestations?

What if we each challenged ourselves to take it on at a different level, next time we encounter it?

Humans can literally generate a spacious and gracious compassion that is as palpable as a change in temperature to someone in our radius. If you're not sure about that, because it doesn't feel rational, don't worry. It is a harmless experiment.

No position statement needed. And no need to telegraph either condemnation or agreement. Just sit or stand with the person, intentionally soften your eyes and gentle your physical stance. Look at them without challenge. Maybe tilt your head toward them. (That doesn't mean nod in agreement, does it?) If they will talk, listen, with all the neutral gentleness you can summon from your soul. Not agreeing, not disagreeing. Listening right past the words to the wounded person. (People know when someone is doing that. They can just tell. At some point, the rage of bigotry begins to yield to fear.)

Keep doing it. Don't look for "results"--you're not fixing anything. You're choosing something abnormal. To be present. To listen to the person expressing bigotry. Listening is not agreeing. It's respecting the personhood of the bigot. (People know when someone is listening to them without agreement, but with respect for their humanity. They can just tell.)

There may be no gratifying catharsis. But as actually as any retribution, you are planting a moment in that person's mind. A moment that feels...different.

The moments are cumulative. At some point, in the majority of human beings who are responded to this way, the worm turns.

Not sure?

You could try it. You don't have to tell anybody.

We can't all catch a plane to Lebanon or Iraq to fix things, right? So start where we are.

(Moral evolution can be strangely contagious.)