Update

I know I don't update my blog regularly, but I'll be out of the country for a while. I will write something when I get back. Peace...

The Mindset of a Hater: Why Haters Hate

Haters are everywhere. They are pretty much in every facet of life nowadays. If there is something you like, I can guarantee that somewhere in this world, someone hates on that same thing. There is constructive criticism, and there is blind hatefulness. We all do it from time to time, but there are other individuals whose sole purpose in life is to hate, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These are the individuals that I will dissect and find out what makes them so hateful.

First off, I want to differentiate between “stating your opinion,” and “being a hater.” For example, if you begin to listen to a song or watch a sport and after that, you say that you did not like it, then that is stating your opinion because you had a basic understanding of that thing. However, if you talk ill of something you do not know about or understand, or make a backhanded negative assumption about something you did not watch or listen to, then that makes you a hater.

One of the most popular reasons why haters love to hate is because they have no lives of their own. They find no happiness in the lives they attempt to live in, so they try to feel good about themselves by trashing everything that they do not like and do not understand. They love to be judgmental, especially about something they do not know about. They are also very insecure. Haters try to put up a fake, tough exterior about them, but inside, they are very troubled people that are fighting an internal struggle of their own. Haters are very mediocre people, and when they surround themselves with other haters, it makes them feel good, because they can look to each other for approval. It is unfortunate these days that many people are concerned with the opinions of others, especially the haters.

Another reason why haters love to hate so much is jealousy. It is human nature to compare yourself to others. When haters hear of or see a person having some sort of success, they take it upon themselves to bring them down a notch and make them feel guilty of their success. There is a bit of an inferiority complex. The hater feels inferior to the successful person, and attempts to bring them down to their level. Ultimately, how I see it, the hater secretly wants to be like the successful person, but they will not admit that, because of their fake, tough exterior.

Ultimately, what you have to do is just ignore it. It is a tough thing to do, but it is important to make the haters look like the fools themselves. Most cases, if you try to engage them, they will not understand where you are coming from and they will continue their hate. It is important to get rid of the negative influences in your life, and replace them with the positive ones. Instead of having friends who hate on everything, have friends who compliment you and encourage you in your endeavors. It is a way that you can be a more positive person yourself, as well as an independent individual.

A Look Back on MXC, as Well as a Brief Take on Wipeout

In my early teenage years, there weren’t a lot of shows that I truly enjoyed. But that changed when I started watching the show known as “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge”, or more simply known as MXC, which was aired on TNN (later called Spike TV).  The show was basically contestants competing in different challenges and hoping to succeed, though most of them fail miserably. MXC was a re-edit of an old late 80s Japanese game show called Takeshi’s Castle, where the American production company redubbed all the voices and added their own comedic English commentary. It was a smash hit in North America.

The things that impressed me the most about MXC was the witty and hilarious writing, as well as the dubbed voices of all the characters. It all came together so well. The script had a lot of funny puns, sexual references, and it was mocking the prominent people and issues at the time, and the voices of the characters delivered the writing very well. I also loved the interaction between the two fictional hosts, Kenny Blankenship and Vic Romano (pictured below). Vic was the more serious commentator while Kenny was the joker of the two, and would often comment on the failed attempts of the contestants, especially the females. Vic would often disapprove of Kenny’s comments by hitting him over the head with his fan. The other main characters are also quite enjoyable, the field marshal “Captain Tenneal” as well as my favorite character, field reporter “Guy LeDouche”, who sounds like an impression of a creepy rapist and makes his share of sexual puns towards the contestants he interviews.

The main attraction of this show is the contestants trying to complete various challenges and obstacle courses, where the majority of them fail. Many of the more painful failures are looked at through the “MXC Impact Replay” where the failure is hilariously analyzed by the hosts. At the end of the show, the funniest and most painful failures are replayed by Kenny Blankenship’s “Painful Eliminations of the Day” in a top ten list. There is a lot of insanity and hilariousness packed into a roughly 20-minute show (excluding commercials).

More recently, a new show came out mirroring the same style as MXC called Wipeout. It doesn’t have the same wackiness as MXC; it’s a lot more toned-down, probably because the show is on network television. I think the failures are just as funny as those in MXC, but I think the script and writing is rather weak. The hosts are pretty stale, and they sometimes don’t deliver the funny material as well as the hosts of MXC. Don’t get me wrong, I think Wipeout is still a decent show, but I prefer MXC much more. I have also seen shows of the UK and Canadian versions of Wipeout. The UK version is an okay show to watch, if you’re completely bored and there is nothing else on television. The Canadian version, on the other hand, is mediocre. The hosts are garbage and the wipeouts are unfunny. I recommend that you avoid the Canadian version at all costs.

If you do a quick Youtube search on MXC, you’ll find many of the episodes on there, and it can easily take up a good chunk of your time. The last episode of MXC aired in 2007, so it is doubtful that more episodes will be made, but it will live on forever. MXC is often imitated, but it will never be duplicated.