Quarter-Life Crisis

Why Must We Hate?

September 02, 2006

I don't know what it is about Notre Dame, but I hate them. I couldn't help but secretly root against the Irish as I kept an eye on the Notre Dame/Georgia Tech game tonight. I think it's the fact that for some reason they always get way more hype than they actually deserve. Perhaps it's the NBC TV contract, 'Rudy', the BCS spot that has their name on it every year, regardless of how more qualified other teams are. But this got me thinking about why people love to hate the winners.

Why is it everybody loves to hate Notre Dame, the New York Yankees, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, or anyone that enjoys success on a large scale?

I am not sure if anybody recently heard the story about the former Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, who had been hired to be a spokesman for Wal-Mart among the American black community. He had made some comment about how small business, mom and pop stores in urban cities have been ripping off poor people for years with their overpriced stale bread, and how America needs Wal-Mart. It's a good question.

I am reading a great book at the moment that touches on this 'big business' theme a lot. While these big businesses often get ganged up on, if we were to wake up tomorrow morning without Wal-Mart, Microsoft and McDonald's, I think we would all be in a lot more trouble than we would like to admit. Not only would millions be out of jobs, but inflation would rise, stock prices would drop, and things would get interesting really fast. However, if Notre Dame, the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees were gone, that's another story.

cc.

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