Who would have thought, at the beginning of the 21st Century, that the U.S. would be the entire world’s bête noire? Certainly not us, so consumed by our own dark beasts on a day-to-day basis, with our groups and shrinks and yoga and religion and drugs (bête noires all) just to deal.
     Recently, Papotage asked anyone who would listen, What is your personal bête noire? As most of those we asked were New York City residents, many couldn’t settle on just one object to abhor, so we allowed them to prattle off bitterly as we took notes.
     What follows is an unscientific tabulation of our highly subjective questioning, listed in our own particular order. How do we hate in 2003? Let us count the bête noires:

"43," his family, sympathizers, minions, and their propaganda machine
corporate America
smoking
non-smoking
cable news
co-op boards
overeating
bulimia
HMOs
cologne
steroids
"Tina"
trade ghosts
twinkies
trolls
phone dumps
Pataki’s face
organized religion
organized sports
organized crime
the unwavering belief in the media that: HIV alone causes AIDS; the U.S. Justice System is just and systematic; every vote counts; Iraq was a threat
the confederate flag
fag bashers
bag Fascists
pop-ups
pop-unders
business reply cards
Big Pharma
Benlo and Jaffleck
Martha Stewart, still living
the Kennedys, still dead
the Left
the Right
Republicans
Democrats
budget cuts
budgeting
nasty cons
Conde Nast
the NRA
the War on Drugs
the War on Terror
what poses as NYC nightlife
homelessness
rent increases
depression
the precipitous rise of acronymization (or PRA)
the misusage of the word "precipitous"