You know, more people really SHOULD hate you

Want to be more popular? More Facebook friends, party invites, blog traffic? FORGET IT.

We didn't say EVERYBODY should hate you. But we'll get to that.

For years, every once in awhile, we'd stop by Weirdsmobile.com. We went to see if anything there had changed. Usually, it hadn't.

Weirdsmobile was a truly idiosyncratic collection of websites, from back before anyone blogged. There was a really original funky creativity going on, but then it stopped, and the place lay fallow for years.

Whoever they were, they didn't shut it down. They just didn't DO anything with the joint. So we had hope, you know.

But today, we went back, and lo - new site design, new content, same old iconoclasm. Hallelujah.

Now, today's post was 'We got to pray just to make it today'. It began with a passage from Luke: "Woe to you when all men speak well of you."

That's how we came to write this post.

We live in a social media world. We talk about the need to attract eyeballs, forgetting apparently that they're attached to humans. We are only as good as the names on our speed dial. We are judged by our posse.

Now, in today's world, there's plenty of hate to go around. We're sure there are plenty of people who hate YOU already. So why add to the list?

It's a question of WHY those people hate you, and why you hate them, that's the point here. Most people hate you because you're in their way for that promotion, that woman, that job. Or because you cut them off at the intersection, on the movie line, at the ATM. Right? And that's probably why you hate them, too.

But that's not what Luke is talking about.

"Woe to you when all men speak well of you."

When everyone seems to have your back, something's whacked in the cosmic balance. And the place to fix it is with YOU.

You know who 'all men speak well of' (to their face, anyway)? Mob bosses, drug dealers, Bob Menendez. You know - pillars of society. Why? Mostly fear, mixed with a desire for favorable treatment.

If you're Bob Menendez, people are throwing barrels of cash at you for favors, rolling the red carpet down Main Street, and kissing up to within an inch of your life. It also means you've been up to no good, on an epic scale.

But you're not Boss Menendez, so that's not a problem for YOU, right? Plenty of people dislike you. OK, but you're still not out of the woods. Because what Luke is talking about goes beyond the extreme cases of sycophancy such as that which trails Hudson County power brokers. What Luke wants to know is - why do the people who like you, like you, and why do the people who hate you, hate you?

If people hate you because, say, you never brush your teeth - well, you have some work to do. If the party bosses are slapping you on the back because you're keeping them in business - same thing.

That's why some people should hate you - because if they don't, you're doing something wrong. Hitler SHOULD have hated you, instead of arranging a banquet in your honor. If you live in Hudson County, those with their hands in the till should hate you - because your life stands in opposition to their corrupt practices.

We know one local woman who's fighting the machine pretty much single-handed. We know of at least two 'reformers' who haven't been welcome in her home. That's the wrong people hating you.

On the other hand, here's a fundraiser being held by a bad-news Hudson County pol. If this guy glad-handed us, we'd have to do some serious self-examination.

If you're living your life the right way, you're making the right enemies for the right reasons. Bob Menendez shouldn't be asking you to lunch, and  walking dirtpiles like this one SHOULD be looking to smear you. If you're all about having everyone think well of you, think again. Even Ghandi was hated. (He was assassinated, after all.)

Who are your friends? People who can help you, or people you can help? Who welcomes you warmly - people who want your favors, or people who respect you? Who's glad to see you - the waitresses. shoemakers, newsstand operators and cabdrivers most people treat like dirt, or people expecting payback?

Who are your enemies? A man who never made the right enemies never really lived.