HATE WEEK: BOISE STATE

The preparations for Hate Week were in full swing, and the staffs of all the Ministries were working overtime. Processions, meetings, military parades, lectures, waxworks, displays, film shows, telescreen programmes all had to be organized; stands had to be erected, effigies built, slogans coined, songs written, rumours circulated, photographs faked.

In George Orwell's 1984, a dystopian wasteland of a society maintains order by keeping its citizenry in perpetual fear. Maintaining a constant state of warfare, the government of Oceania cements the undying loyalty of the governed by reminding them that they are at war against a formidable, yet ambiguous enemy.

Serving to affirm this, Oceania holds a daily ritual of "Two Minutes Hate" and an annual celebration of "Hate Week," where the citizenry is reminded that "We are at war...We have always been at war." Images of violence, death, and destruction are used to incite both terror and anger, while preserving the subjection of the citizenry to Oceania and the obliteration of all who oppose it.

A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.

As is with Orwellian nightmares, it is with SEC football fans. We are unflappably diehard. We inexplicably love our programs. We identify with our fellow fans as much as we would identify with a family. Who we cheer for is an unhealthy and irrational part of who we are. To that point, we hate anyone who would dare oppose our football teams and, by extension, us. This isn't a personal hate, nor is it a protracted hate. It's a temporary one borne out of convenience and necessity.

But it is very much real.

Today begins Red Cup Rebellion's first HATE WEEK of 2014. This week, the Boise State Broncos dare challenge our Ole Miss Rebels. Boise State is therefore our enemy, and we will not rest until their demise is guaranteed. We are at war with Boise State. We have always been at war with Boise State.

The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one's teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one's neck. The Hate had started.

[REQUIRED READING: Administrative notes, Community Guidelines, and the HATE WEEK disclaimer.]