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You can find hatin' in Shakespeare, the Bible -- heck, even Aristotle contemplated the subject 2,356 years ago: "Anger can be cured by time; but hatred cannot."
Fast forward a couple millennia, and we've perfected the opposite of love: 2006 has been the most haterific year ever. The year saw haterholics turn their venom on cities, religions and entire planets. Truth itself was even hated on.
To commemorate such a splenetic 12 months, we've compiled examples of the most haterly behavior, utterances and astronomy of the year.
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JAMES FREY vs. TRUTH
What's next ... justice and the American way?
You can hate your entree, hate a movie -- even hate the loud talker in the cubicle next to you. But who ever heard of hating on a defenseless virtue? In early 2006, http://www.thesmokinggun.com uncovered James Frey's war on veracity, challenging his account of events in his best-selling "memoir" "A Million Little Pieces." Frey, it seems, hated truth so much he lied in print about time served in jail, circumstances of a friend's suicide and whether he had dental surgery without Novocain.
With Superman nowhere to be found, Oprah took it upon herself to defend this pillar of American life, telling Frey: "I feel duped. But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers."
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CELEBS vs. CITIES
Municipalities need hatin' too!
Hating on people one at a time is soooooo 2005. With so many potential targets for spite out there, an actress or member of Congress would never get any work done if he or she dished out the bile individually.
As such, British hottie Sienna Miller in October went after the entire Pennsylvania city where she was filming a movie -- telling a Rolling Stone magazine interviewer, "Can you believe this is my life? Will you pity me when you're back in your funky New York apartment and I'm still in Pittsburgh? I need to get more glamorous films and stop with my indie year."
A few weeks later, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, targeted all of Miami in comments to a conservative online new site: "Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country."
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GALLAUDET STUDENTS vs. THE SCHOOL PRESIDENT
Not deaf enough?
Students at the world's premier school for the deaf -- Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. -- protested the school's incoming president for weeks, at times blockading the school's main gate and shutting down campus. The school eventually voted in October to revoke the appointment of Jane Fernandes.
Protesters said she wasn't qualified to lead the school and didn't respect diversity.
Fernandes -- who was born deaf but didn't learn American Sign Language until her 20s -- has said some people do not consider her "deaf enough" to be president.
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JESSICA ALBA vs. PLAYBOY
Over my dead, exquisitely toned, bikini-clad body.
In February, Playboy magazine drew the ire of Jessica Alba when it ran a picture of her in a bikini on its cover to mark its "25 Sexiest Celebrities" feature. Alba demanded the issue be pulled from newsstands so as not to mislead readers into thinking she'd posed nude and said the promotional shot was obtained through trickery.
The flap blew over a few weeks later after Hugh Hefner apologized and donated money to two of Alba's favorite charities.
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EVERYONE vs. TOM CRUISE
The hating that keeps on giving.
After gaining momentum for more than a year, Tom Cruise-bashing reached its apex in 2006. Controversy over his depiction in a South Park episode flared in March, and later said they were wary of being associated with the actor and that they felt they had that "Tom Cruise stink" on them. Enough Cruise-haters were among the movie-going public to lead this summer's "Mission: Impossible III" to disappointing returns.
But the biggest Cruise hater of all turned out to be his old boss, Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone, who booted Cruise from a production deal with Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures. Redstone estimated that Cruise's off-screen behavior M:I 3 $100 million to $150 million in ticket sales.
"We don't think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot," he said.
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ASTRONOMERS vs. PLUTO
Watch your back, Neptune.
Sure, astronomers seem like a bunch of nerds. But cross 'em, and you could just about have your existence canceled. That's what happened over the summer when a conference of scientists reduced the number of planets in the solar system from nine to eight, giving Pluto the boot. The distant object no longer fits a revised criteria for planethood and so was demoted to a sort of cosmic junior varsity.
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BRITNEY vs. UNDERWEAR
Oops, I dissed it again.
Britney Spears became the latest celebrity in the war against skivvies, joining Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in the ranks of apparent panty-haters. The three have all been caught by paparazzi going commando.
That and other of Britney's antics have led to a haterific backlash, including these choice words from feminist author Camille Paglia in an interview with Us Weekly this month: "These girls are lowering themselves to the level of backstreet floozies. It angers me because I fought a bitter fight to get feminism back on track."
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GLENN BECK vs. PENGUINS
The cutest hating of all.
It's tough to find a reason to dislike a G-rated, animated movie about penguins. But CNN talk show host Glenn Beck did just that last month, attacking "Happy Feet" as thinly veiled environmentalist propaganda, calling it "an animated version of 'An Inconvenient Truth.'"
"I`d like to teach my children how to think for themselves about the issues, including global warming and the environment, instead of having them indoctrinated by some Hollywood director," Beck told viewers.
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MEL GIBSON vs. JEWS
The second coming of anti-Semitism.
Mel Gibson's depiction of Jews in "The Passion of the Christ" left some wondering whether the actor/director is anti-Semitic. One night over the summer after some carousing, Gibson decided to put the debate to rest. Just not in the way his publicist would have envisioned.
After being pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving in July, Gibson unleashed an anti-Semitic tirade, according to a police report. Gibson said, "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," and asked the officer, James Mee, "Are you a Jew?"
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asap reporter Jonathan Drew vs. Deadlines just missed the cut for this list.
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