There is so much anger in our society and politics today. The Tea Party spews racism and intolerance towards Pres. Obama, Democrats, Progressives and anyone else who don’t agree with them, the GOP/Kochs/Corporations/Wall Street make venomous attacks against unions, teachers, police, the unemployed, liberals, the educated and economic justice. Purist Dems savage Obama for not making all their dreams come true and Obama Purists wail on Democrats who criticize Obama at all, for being so nasty as to attack other Democrats.
Movies about mean spirited people keep coming out (Bad Teacher, Horrible Bosses, anything with Adam Sandler, etc.) . In commercials and tv shows, being cruel and snide is what’s supposed to make us laugh.
There’s so much hostility out there…doesn’t it just piss you off?!
Imagine if anger could be converted into electrical energy, we’d solve the economic and jobs crisis, the deficit, the energy crisis and make big progress on Climate Change. Then we’d be so pleased with how things are going, it would reduce our anger along with the energy it produced and plunge us into another jobs/ energy/deficit/climate crisis…which would make us so angry, we would produce enough energy to solve all of our problems again. This cycle could repeat indefinitely…in fact…it actually does.
Much of our society’s past has been a series of crises resulting from abuse by the wealthy and powerful, thrust on Americans who are forced to endure suffering then they eventually get angry enough to bring about change through public pressure and the polls. Once some change has been accomplished, the public relaxes and the wealthy and powerful sneak their hands in again to take away the public’s wealth and power…resulting again in crises.
This can be seen throughout American history to one degree or another but just to illustrate, let’s begin by looking back at this era beginning in the 1960’s – 1970’s. Racism caused the misery and deaths of many simply because of the color of their skin. Corporate industry was polluting our air, land and water. Nixon was undermining our democracy with criminal political activity. The Vietnam War was murdering so many young men of that generation for a war that had absolutely nothing to do with our nation’s security. The Establishment (corporate America and conservatives) were at war in a social context with that same younger generation as well as many others who opposed their views.
There was much more going on in that era as well but what happened then was that anger and resentment built up in enough of the public that they projected their will to demand Civil Rights laws, environmental laws, impeachment of a criminal President and laws to help prevent another one (folks back then could never have imagined someone like Bush following later), ending the Vietnam War, etc.
With all of that accomplished or moving forward, the public took a well deserved rest and decided they should treat themselves with a bit of self-indulgence. This fit well into the Reagan Era…where many of the same problems were ushered back in. Deregulation of industries allowing greater pollution of our air, land and water. Corruption in government including criminal activity by the President and his staff via Iran-Contra, unnecessary war in Grenada, a siege on on the younger generation through drug laws, anti-gay attacks (blaming them for AIDS and refusing to prevent its spread), war on the poor, homeless and mentally ill (Reagan slashed funding for mental facilities and was a big contributor to so many being tossed out into the street as homeless…while also defunding homeless shelters and food programs for the poor and homeless). George HW Bush continued all of this and as the country descended deeper into a recession and desperate times, they voted in Clinton.
A focus was turned again on solving our financial and social crises and as we came to the end of the Clinton Era, once again it was time to kick up our feet on the budget surplus and the dot com boom and relax. Then came the sequel (and as most know, sequels are always worse) Bush 2 (“This time there’s no stopping him!”). Once again, deregulation empowered corporations to poison the environment and destroy the nation’s economy. Criminal actions by a President occurred again through spying on Americans and employing torture. An unnecessary war was fought that has no impact on our national security but causes the deaths of thousands of our young men and possibly more than a million people overall. Anti-gay hatred and laws were promoted, religious prejudice and intolerance rises, racism is exercised openly, economically and socially (with blacks being jailed at a rate many times higher than whites…including the criminals at Goldman Sachs who stole more than all blacks in jail for theft combined).
People once again got angry and brought about change, hence our President Barack Hussein Obama.
The problem this time though is that the destruction that each subsequent GOP Presidency inflicted was cumulative and the crises finally blew such a massive hole in our nation under Bush that one Democratic president, even in two terms, may not be able to fully repair that damage.
Now comes the problem. If the public’s anger at how long it takes for a Democratic President to repair the Republican damage to their lives and the nation, triggers their anger and need for change, as it did in 2010, they obliviously set the gears in motion again for another Republican President to send us far deeper into crises before we’ve ended the previous set of them. In essence, digging a deep hole while already standing in a deep hole…who knows if our country could ever fully climb out of that?
It’s hard to find a time in US history where Americans who are still suffering from long term crises caused primarily by one political party, bring the same party back to power after just four years, a party that not only retains the same philosophies that created the crises but is doubling down on them.
Anger makes me mad for that reason. It is a necessary and valuable emotion that can get you up off the couch and active in changing the way things are but if it’s not channeled solely into motivation and spills into decision making, it can have destructive results.
So if we were to think of ourselves as being like cars, anger is indeed a powerful fuel for us, it can power us to change and accomplish things. However, you don’t drive a car solely by stepping on the gas pedal (as too many voters did last year). You also need to use principles to steer by, reason as your brakes and vision to look down the road at where you’re going as well as checking periodically in the rear view mirror to keep an eye on where you’ve been and what may be coming your way.
So, many things that can be used destructively can also have a constructive use as well. The excess of anger there is out there in the media, politics and society is like a gas nozzle spewing wildly. That nozzle needs to be re-directed into the tank of a vehicle that can take us to where we want to go.
Only then can our anger end up making us happy.
Anger is going to be the dominant theme of the next few decades in America. We are an empire in decline and there is no practical way to reverse that. We can be salved and stroked by those who might promise to soften our landing, but the direction we are heading is our destiny.
We have adjusted to an economy and lifestyle that was built upon Americans consuming 4 -5 times their share of our world’s resources. That was, and is, unsustainable. Had we gone into “protective” mode after the 60’s, instead of deluding ourselves into thinking that we could maintain our living standard while allowing the global capitalists to dilute it with unfair trade, we might have stretched out the time to our reckoning. Of course, we would have missed all those wild rides that we experienced from the resulting “bubble” economy that only burst completely three years ago.
The financial powers in America are just sweeping up the last tidbits of wealth remaining before moving on completely to greener pastures. America has an immense debt to the world without any mechanism to repay that debt. This will very soon be reflected in run a way inflation that will leave even millionaires in the dust as the dollar readjusts to the nation’s “real” worth. Our infrastructure is broken and in disrepair and most of us make our living by servicing each other in some fashion. This is our current reality and will only reverse itself when China and India eventually begin shopping for a source of cheap labor. And the wheel goes around.
In regards to anger, it’s high time we began ignoring the emotion and listening only to the message, it there is one. The message is what matters. Do that and you’ll see that the message coming from the Tea Party is as hollow as an empty tea kettle.
CL: how about the passage from James 2:14 – 17 – “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
And therein lies the difference between James, who has been called the brother of Jesus, and Paul, who never met nor studied under Jesus while he was alive. James is my favorite book of the Bible. It’s a wonder it made it into the Bible, and no wonder at all that Talibangelicals fail to quote from it.
Isn’t it interesting that RW Fundamentalists who proclaim their reverence for Christianity, completely ignore what the namesake of their religion stood for?
It’s just an inconvenient fact for them that Jesus only really spoke against one group, the wealthy. So many quotes with reverence for the poor, the powerless and all of us as neighbors and fellow human beings. And so many quotes against the wealthy and greed. He came out against the money changers, not in favor of their accumulating wealth.
The question really is, just because they claim to be Christians, if their positions are the antithesis of what Jesus believed, are they in fact Christians?
AdLib: This one’s for you –
James 2:2-7 “For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say ‘Have a seat here, please’, while you say to the poor man ‘Stand there,’, or ‘Sit at my feet’, have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs to the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you, is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme that honorable name by which you are called?”
And when they want to do those loud, scary group prayers and “pah-raise Jeesus”, I just say “Oh! Sorry. No can do.” When they ask why, thinking I am a child of the devil, I just quote them Matthew 6:6 – “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” It works, truly it does.
I actually kind of like thumping the Bible right back at ’em. I’m a contentious little Bitch. But I know my scripture, and I know what is right. And I “don’t back down”……
Father Jake has siad several times that modern Christians focus on Yeshua’s birth and death. Everything in between is irrelevant.
Pop Quiz: Which of the following are the most-attended days of the Christian calendar?
A. Birth (Christmas)
B. Epiphany
C. Sermon on the Mount
D. Death (Easter)
‘Nuff said?
Now, look up the word “apostate”.
Wow Adlib I was thinking the same thing but of course you said it much better.
I for one really want to move past all this partisan nonsense. I think the hyperpartisanship in itself is what is destroying this country the most just like Obama said in his 2008 campaign. Of course when the other side’s only tactic is hyperpartisanship you have to fight back but it’s still far from the optimum way to run a country. Worse it makes both sides angry and anger leads to bad decision making. I mean reasonable people would never think it is a good thing to hold the country hostage and not pay our bills.
I for one miss the days when presidents were presidents for all the people and not just special interest groups on both sides.
Hey KQ – Great minds and all that!
The majority of Americans and I think most Progressives want to get past this hyper-partisanship as well. Two things about that, first, the GOP NEEDS hyper-partisanship because they need a mob mentality to drive their supporters past the fact that they have no solutions and just into “Us vs. Them” mode. If the Repubs just tried compete on the field of ideas to help the American People, they’d be empty-handed and lose immediately.
Second, the only way to get to post-hyper-partisan government is to remove the hyper-partisans. Right now, the GOP is almost uniformly that way so though it may seem a bit of a contradiction, the only way to get past hyper-partisanship is to be hyper-partisan against the party undermining our democracy then once in power, being in a position to diffuse it.
Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire to prevail over those who are ruthless then having won, you can set an example of how to govern fairly and wisely.
No doubt that conservatives stir up hyperpartisanship more because it’s a mainstream theme to them.
But I can’t help but see progressives become more and more angry and deliver a more and more negative message. Conservatives are right about one thing the blame America first attitude with many on the left is palatable. I know the progressive argument. It’s suppose to be only because progressives care about making America better but it’s gotten way beyond that point. Honestly I see many progressives now smugly sit on the sidelines and cheer America’s downfall because we did not try the “progressive” way whatever that is.
I can’t read an article even when it has some positive news on the economy for example where a progressive has to instantly spin it as negative as possible. There is a whole cottage industry on the left out there that seems to be promoting a self fulfilling prophecy to make America into some kind of third world country. A big part of succeeding as an individual or a country is having a good attitude otherwise there is no motivation to strive to succeed. We have gone from the greatest generation to the gloom and doom loving generation that really don’t care if America succeeds again as long as it’s they can blame the other side.
We are all a bit angry in our own little ways but did anyone notice something peculiar in the last few weeks?
I could be wrong but I hear whisperings of the 2012 general election. First of all I have NEVER heard from Tom “carpetbagger” McClintock and I have gotten 3 emails from him in the past three weeks for his “online” town halls LOL.
The President is all of a sudden talking about the “people”.
The corporate chatter from the politicians is dying down a little and they are talking about us.
Why? Because they need our votes. That chatter is going to get louder in the next few months until they draw us all in and get our help. What would happen if the “People” as one, said no dice. We are not going to the polls, see if you can get elected on your own. I think just one election like that would probably jolt them back to reality. I know it won’t happen but I can contemplate such an activity. It don’t cost me a dime.
I’d like to see just the opposite. What if instead of 49% of eligible voters coming to the polls in 2012, 75% turned out and angrily threw out much of those who are corporate puppets.
That would put the fear of God into all of them, to put the voters first and corporate donations 2nd, if voters made clear that corporate money in lieu of working for them makes one a marked man for defeat by the voters.
That would work too but first you have to have the “honest” politician to pull that lever for. Anyone can fool you in an election year, they are on their best behavior. Perhaps a truthtelling machine hooked up to each one so that when they tell even the smallest lie they get a shock would work. It would be entertaining lol, geez now I am starting to sound like the people who threw the Christians to the lions.
Hey. I’m all for states requiring a televised lie detector test on all key issues for anyone wanting to be put on the ballot! That would be both entertaining and enlightening!
When I get down, this one always helps me.
Well okay then, the song is AS by Stevie Wonder
You’re cool now! Just paste the full URL for the video’s YouTube page and add the “v” after the “http” and you’re set!
I did but I get a . in the middle of the string and if I remove it it does not work and if I leave it it does not work. I am not sure what happened that I can no longer post them here. Awhile back Bito was having to repost all of mine. It is just weird.
This is pervasive…I was j-u-s-t thinking of this scene from “Network” the other day. I Am ANGRY as HELL
and I’m sick of “take’n it”
Sh/T’s only gonna get worse folks! Hate to be a pessimist in our “can do ” empire, but I know too may people who find “things are just fine”, and wouldn’t ever consider “rock’n da” boat!???
Welcome to The Planet, doutngtomss.
I do think it’s too bad that as a whole, a majority of Americans have to be suffering badly enough to get up from in front of their TVs to take action.
It takes so much less energy and brings one so much less suffering to stay alert and act swiftly when one’s being attacked.
I do think it’s happening now, as we see in the swing states and the protests against their Repub/Corporate Govs trying to sell out their people.
Hopefully all the anger and suffering will hit a boiling point in time for the 2012 election.
I care that the President is disrespected. Actually, I am sick and tired of it. From the campaign to the shouting of YOU LIE by Wilson to President Obama who stood on the floor of Congress. This President has been publicly disrespected over and over. Why is it so hard for these so-called media heads to say “President” Obama? No, I have had enough. And evidently so have a lot of other people. The “money bomb” for President Obama surpassed it’s goal, yesterday. I know I gave. In fact, I gave again when Sen. Roberts implied that Pres. Obama needed to take a valium aka “the angry black guy”. I gave again when Cornyn called the President of the United States a demagogue. I read that MSNBC received a ton of emails, calls and tweets. So yes, for many of us this matters.
Sabreen, I too very much care that the President was disrespected. I think the authors of those posts do too–in fact, they’ve been explaining themselves on Twitter. Their point was, Yes that was very bad, but the worse obscenity was Halperin’s criticism of what and how the president said. Even if Halperin had said, “The President shouldn’t have been so forceful,” Halperin was WRONG. The focus is now on the disrespect instead of the outrageous criticism in the first place. Reeps are sickeningly disrespectful, but MORE than that, their very ideas and policies are the real obscenity, and THAT is what any honest and discerning pudnut should have called out.
As far as the Halperin incident went, it wasn’t comparable to those others, really. I didn’t even register it when it went down live. The far more disrespectful part was the whole notion that the pieces describe. That he was out of line for calling Congress out. That’s what was galling to me.
That being said, any fundraising that comes out of it is welcomed.
X2
Here is my motto, expressed in voice by the lovely Patty Griffin: I Don’t Ever Give Up. Whenever we try and pull something off for the good of Afghanistan, and we face the immeasurable hurdles – danger, corruption, incompetence – I remind them: You don’t have to be richer, more powerful or stronger than your enemy. You just have to be smarter. So far, we’ve won. Not the war, but the battles. My belief is the battles will add up one day.
Let the anger fuel you, don’t let it destroy you. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
AB! What’s the name of that Durango spa you always go to? I’m heading there in August and can’t decide between the Strater Hotel and a hot springs spa.
CAT!!! I go to Pagosa Springs; it is one hour from Durango (east). You simply MUST go. We are there 8/7 and 8/8; any chance we can meet? Send me an email; our computer crashed and I lost so many addresses.
I’m also going to Telluride, Mesa Verde and Santa Fe. Will have the Blov and the Alpha Pup in tow….
AB, Just sent you an email but I’m not sure it was the right one!! Check your inbox.
Haven’t been to Mesa Verde in a while. Last time I was in Santa Fe I got so smashed the following day in Albuquerque was not very fun.
Very beautiful and inspiring, AB!
The key indeed is to keep righteous anger in the fuel tank and your eyes on the destination.
May I add one of my theme songs in this area:
Oh yeah Adlib. I love the Travelling Wilburys. I first bought their CD way back in 1989 then lost it. Roy Orbison’s wife pulled all recordings from the market for awhile so my nephew made me a bootleg copy. About 5 years ago I found the double album in Costco. Dave Clark Five’s fmily did the same with his music for awhile.
For some strange reason, my daughter just locked onto The Traveling Wilburys at 6 years old and played them all the time.
One day, we had the wonderful occasion to bump into Jeff Lynne. I first expressed how much we enjoyed his work, told him my daughter was a big fan of his then introduced her to him explaining “He was one of The Traveling Wilburys!”
She got all shy but hopefully she’ll remember that moment when she’s older…though her friends will likely say “Who are The Traveling Wilburys and Jeff Lynne?”
That is so special for her. It is good that you are learning her young on music. We always had music growing up and my kids were weaned on all types from a very early age. My son plays guitar, saxaphone, piano and sings acapella, my daughter is a music hound. They both have an appreciation for all types of music.
My sister met Jeff Lynne up in Tahoe. She ran into him gambling and they started talking and he gave her tickets to the show and took her and her boyfriend out for dinner. She was thrilled and said he was just a regular down to earth guy. She used to have a regular gig in the Bay Area and then she got “marriedified”. She kept it up for awhile but family life eventually took over. She still sings when she can with her old group but not nearly as often as she would like.
AdLib: I’ll see you a Wilbury (I am STILL a huge fan of Roy, or who I refer to as “The Big O”), and raise you a Dixie Chick. Natalie Maines is from Texas. “Natalie speaks for me” is the tee shirt I still want…
P.S. I dedicate this song to kesmarn and choice lady.
You chicks are so cool! I love the caring on this site.
OH Yeah…….that is the kind of thing I ‘m talkin about.!
One big pleasure this girl got to do was to see Tom and Bob Dylan at Irvine Meadows………..Loved it.
AdLib, anger and destination is so important. Channeling energy into a purpose, survival, helping, even self awareness moves us all forward.
AB
I admire your spunk and upbeat attitude.
Elvis Costello is not angry.
But The Who have Had Enough.
Peggy Lee is beautiful when she’s angry
WTS, Oh God, she’s gorgeous no matter what! And I say that as a female. I grew up with the big blonds but Peggy Lee always made it cool. No one else could do that in the 60’s
I agree, foodchain. I think this video just flat out smoulders!
AdLib: smoulder, what a good word! If you were to draw her, smoulder would surround her. sorry for the misnomer. Great people all
ooopsi WTS; was commenting to adlib on vox and I tangled myself. Peggy Lee, smoulder. Who can’t feel it?
no worries, foodchain; figured as much. Hmmmm…maybe I should draw Peggy Lee. I need a theme though……
Excellent choice of film clip, Khirad! Guess he should’ve ordered the Double Whammy.
Khirad! You found a video that isn’t a Bollywood Babe Bonanza??!!
Or, did you stumble on this one on accident? 😉
I can’t speak for anyone but myself…but I
AM very angry and very bitter. I am angry because “what could be” and :what should be”, isn’t on the table.
I am angry that 46 million of my fellow citizens are living in poverty when there are 10 million living in grandeur.
I am angry that for so many the American dream is nothing more than an illusion…a myth, that they will NEVER have the ability to realize.
I am angry that millions of my fellow citizens are trying to survive on 30-50K a year, and depending on where they live, that can be a very difficult undertaking, due to the costs of living in those areas.
I am angry that corporate execs are making 500 TIMES that of their lowest paid workers, those workers who they NEED to make the company provide it’s product or service, yet are treated like disposable cattle.
I am angry that our nation has broken the social contract with it’s citizens and is moving toward a new age of feudalism.
I am angry that there are children who are being indoctrinated into a corporate, marketing scam of big business that hopes to enshrine them in debt, pharmaceuticals and indentured servitude.
I am angry and I’ve had enough of the bullshit.
I am angry that people have to work on Holidays and have little time off with their families and to have a life…lest they lose their job.
I am angry that so many are just struggling to survive while so many live so high off the hog.
I am angry that so many of my fellow citizens can’t go to the doctor…a co worker of mine, a lady in her 50’s is sick and can’t afford to go to the doctor, her shitty health insurance and low pay make it unaffordable! (BUT she has health insurance…a high deductible one…but she’s insured…even though she only makes 12 bucks an hour). HER husband had the audacity to be human and have a heart attack thus thrusting her at age 45 into the workforce, without any marketable skills…the audacity of her and her husband…(sarcasm).
I am angry that we accept living as we do in this nation…we are very sick nation…mentally sick…psychotic actually…we espouse the ideals of sociopaths and justify such behavior…it’s pathetic!
I can go on and on as to why I AM ANGRY…and as to what bothers ME about our ‘great nation’…but alas if I do, I just might go postal!
AND I am MOST angry that I was lied to or mislead.
As a generation X’er I had the misfortune to come of age in the 80’s after having been raised, and taught by those of the ‘great generation’. I was told that being honest, working hard, getting a good education were all the ingredients I needed to have a good life….that I would get a good job, be able to earn enough to have a good life for me and my progeny. I was sold a bill of goods, that was just NOT true.
After 20 years (and having the audacity to have a vagina and not a penis in corporate America)…I found out, I had to sell my soul completely and be without any morals if I wanted to ‘make it big’ and have financial security. Otherwise, I was a liability and dispensable. I learned A LOT in my years in corporate boardrooms and none of it was pretty. It was evil…honesty, integrity and decency are NOT appreciated in our culture…WOW. WOW…I was floored to realize that all I had been taught and all I valued was NOT valued at all by those who have power.
Now, I’m partaking on a political career and finding it’s even worse than the what I thought…
I’m disillusioned and disgusted.
This is the game that needs to be exposed. The wealthy and powerful promote idealistic principles to the masses, pretend to subscribe to them then surreptitiously prey on the masses as the unethical weasels that they are.
A study was done a while back of high school seniors and more than 70% said they believed they would one day be millionaires. Square that with 99% of all Americans not being millionaires.
If people can be enlightened that they will never be millionaires, that they will need SS and Medicare that pays well enough for them to actually be able to retire one day and that they’re being lied to by a system that deceives them so they’ll be happy and distracted in their velvet servitude to the wealthy, the whole charade could fall apart and real change to this system could take place.
I’m sorry your adventures in politics have been so disillusioning. Not knowing exactly what’s been transpiring, I’d just offer that you have to ignore those who seek to tell you how you can’t do things or the only way things work and focus on reaching out to the people who can support you and vote for you. There’s always a game the status quo wants you to play or believe is the only way to do things but that’s because they’re not creative, they depend on everyone conforming to their game so they can sustain the game they benefit from.
If you don’t like it, don’t play it and come up with your own strategy.
Thanks Adlib and I appreciate that you completely understood the point of my rantings!
There are so many myths and propaganda that many believe to be true and as such cause unnecessary misery.
Here, here!
This is justifiable anger we’re feeling and a sense of betrayal. The BS we were and are fed about The American Dream and American Exceptionalism doesn’t work to hide reality from us anymore. It’s like the old Groucho joke, “Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”
We have to be the ones who call out loudly that The Emperor has no clothes, that America is not what the commercials say it is. It is and is becoming more so, a desperate and hostile place for most Americans.
And as you surely recall, what happened in that fable is that once the rest of the crowd really heard that the Emperor had no clothes, they didn’t buy into the delusion anymore and saw him as he really was.
Below, I called it an Awakening but whatever we want to call it, it’s up to those of us who see what is going on to inspire others to get angry enough to take action and together, change the way things are.
I mean, around 99% of the nation is on the receiving end of a declining standard of living, all we have to do is come together and vent our shared anger at the politicians and polls and things can change.
After all, most politicians only care about one thing, getting re-elected and if their voters make it clear that won’t happen if they don’t pass the bills we demand they pass, those bills will get passed, by them or by whoever replaces them when they’re voted out.
I hear you AbbyRose. As long as one child in this country is hungry or homeless, I consider this experiment in Democracy incomplete.
I feel bad because you sound so miserable. I also see some hyperbole in your post because you are biased by your anger like we are heading towards feudalism. That’s utter nonsense knowing what feudalism really is. If you only judge life through what you have materially as opposed to what someone else has sure you can be angry or is it envy. But I think that’s a false perception of what’s important in life.
Kquark, I think you misunderstood the point of my posts. This isn’t just about ME, as a matter of fact, if YOU really READ the post, you would see it has nothing to do with me at all. But I don’t see life from only my own eyes. I was blessed with the gift of empathy.
How can anyone with a conscience and a sense of decency, walk around and SEE what is so clearly an unstable and disgustingly unfair situation and NOT be angry!
Life is VERY short. I’m 43 now and seriously it feels like just yesterday that I was 20. the years have flown by and during that time, just like everyone I have lived through than my share of difficulties and drama. The stories I could tell. I’ve buried both my parents as well as many loved ones. I’ve known many people who are barely able to survive in our system and who’s life is but a drudgery…and I think it is disgusting. There is too much suffering by too many people.
I’m happy for those if you have not had the opportunity to feel REAL hardship or who have NOT had to chose between healthcare or keeping a roof over their head. Good for them…but I think it disgusting that in a nation so full of resources that so many are living paycheck to paycheck and are one illness, one job loss away from utter chaos. BTW…stress kills. Stress causes many problems both physically and psychologically. Economic trauma is devastating to people and families and to pretend that it’s just materialism is naive.
Come join me at the homeless shelter tomorrow, where I volunteer every Saturday….the problems in our culture are systemic, not the issue of individual irresponsibility or failure.
Perspective is key here, just because some people in a nation have lived one way doesn’t me that others have had the same experiences. Thus it is disingenuous to ASSUME anything about the specific experiences of a great number of people, based on one’s own experiences or lack thereof.
REAL people are REALLY suffering throughout the country and I find that unacceptable. I find it unacceptable that there are people in their 50’s with health issues who are working tedious low paying service jobs, without paid time off…just to survive. Do you honestly think those people are happy??? Hate to break it to you…they aren’t.
There is no reason that those in the top 1% are living like they do, when so many aren’t able to obtain necessary healthcare or who have to rely on charity for food and shelter. It’s disgusting.
Money is a necessity of life in our land. ONE cannot live without financial means and the lack of financial security does lead to a type of serfdom, as it basically leads to an indentured servitude. There are many people who make just over poverty levels working for bad bosses who treat them horrifically and who are unable to quit that horrible job. YOU would be amazed just how many out there live like this everyday, and it take a toll on them, mentally, and physically. How is that NOT like serfdom??
The big multinational corporations are the new nation states and the peon workers of these great enterprises are nothing more than serfs. THE analogy IS accurate whether you believe it or not…I have actually had this conversation with many professors of history, politics and economics and for the most part, those studied individuals too see the similarities in the concepts. Just because most people are blind to it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
Feudalism was more than just an agrarian culture it was hierarchical system where those born into a certain caste were there for life. The nobles grew rich off the work of their subjects and for the privilege of working the land and eating, the serfs and working people paid taxes to the elite nobility. There are adequate examples of the similarities to our social and corporate hierarchies today. Just because the terms are different and the concepts are slightly different doesn’t mean the overall system is different.
You Rock Abby!
Me too- what Abby said! 🙂
Terrific article, cap’n! Anger has both healthy and unhealthy dimensions. Ones that can move us forward, others that keep us stuck where we are, and still others that take us further and further back. Hitler took the anger of the German people and turned it into the most horrific regime in human history.
How could that anger have been channeled differently? Certainly not by Hitler, as he was bloodthirsty and saw himself as the embodiment of that rage and hatred. But even a more benevolent person would have had a very hard job in front of him, trying to make things better in those circumstances.
Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, etc.; these are leaders who turned the expression of anger into positive gains, not just for the people they represented, but for our entire race. Were they less angry than Hitler? Perhaps not; but their anger had a less malignant quality to it.
For me, personally, no form of malignant anger is ever good. Smears, lies, attacks, incitements toward hatred and demonization of those not like us – the results of this kind of anger couldn’t be more predictable.
The GOOD kind of anger is more refined; those who have mastered it and can work with it are the ideal leaders, I feel. We have to listen with a great deal of discernment to hear the voices of such men and women.
Right with you, WTS. Gandhi, MLK, Mandela all channeled righteous anger into meaningful change. That’s what we need to do now, with or without a leader of that caliber. Not dissing Obama but he isn’t an “anger” guy, it would have to be someone else.
As to the small-mindedness of those whose anger comes from self-righteousness or prejudice, it serves no one, not even the one who spouts it. It reduces them in the eyes of others and eats away at them, eventually devouring their reason.
It doesn’t seem difficult to recognize “good” anger. If the anger comes from injustice, that would seem plainly to be good anger.
And we need to be good and angry, there needs to be a moral authority to change or it will be just as quickly reversed.
I don’t agree that “good” anger is easy to spot. Certainly the anger of the Germans came from injustice. The unjust war reparations imposed by the British and French after WWI DID call for a certain amount of anger.
The anger that many Chinese, Koreans, etc. feel toward Japan is plainly a result of the wrongs Japan committed against them in the 20th century, but it serves no real productive purpose at this point, when these three countries should be natural economic/ cultural partners leading the world right now.
MOST anger that unites an entire people comes as a result of actual injustice. The Serbs have been both victim and abuser. Let’s not forget that Native Americans committed atrocities too, not just white settlers.
Many people who join militias, the Tea Party, etc., or who lovingly lap up Glenn Beck’s hate speeches sense that our society is deeply unjust, but don’t need to know who to turn to or what to do about it. In fact, to his fans, Glenn Beck’s anger IS good anger, although none of us here would agree. That is what I mean by discernment. Who is pointing the way toward positive change, and who is leading us to the abyss? It is not always easy to discern.
The anger of the Germans came from desperate times that were the result of their launching WW1, that’s not injustice.
If I started a fight with someone else, they won that fight and I had to deal with serious injuries from it, I was not wronged, I was the cause of my own misery.
As you say, the anger of China and Korea towards Japan is historically justified. In my book, the one who instigates has the burden of repairing trust and damage but those who have been harmed shouldn’t allow anger and grudges against people long dead to blind them from seeing what’s best for them.
Maybe I am simplifying something that can’t be but let me try this one last proposition, if one’s anger over an injustice would lead to bringing about another injustice, that is “bad” anger. If it instead would bring about something only beneficial to others and society, then that would be good.
And if it involved receiving extra bacon in any way, that would definitely be good.
Adlib
You surely opened the flood gates with this one. Thanks for having the foresight to write it. I know I got alot of anger out by expressing my thoughts, it was definitely a stress reliever. Thanks.
Hey Sue, very glad this hit a chord with you and a number of others. There is a daily barrage of words and deeds each day that anger many of us, the gall that those with power and/or visibility have crosses a farther and farther line each day (like the editor-at-large for Time calling the President of the United States “a dick” on a news channel) is astounding.
Not to mention the frustrations many Planeteers and many Americans out there have to face in their day to day lives thanks to the greed and corruption of those with the most power.
So, if we can get to the bottom of the things that are pissing us off, maybe we can collaborate on how we can attack the root of the problem.
And in the meantime, it’s a good feeling to get the things off our chests that we’re all pissed off about and know that we’re not feeling these things just by ourselves, we’re all in this together.
Excellent article. It is interesting to see the problems expressed in such a concise way.
As many do, I knew these things and they piss me off just as they did in the late 60’s and 70’s. I do have to pace that anger. In fact now it has become simply recognizing that we live in a country that I did not know existed…….not the America that I thought it was….and again I learned that years ago too.
It is stunning to feel like you are living in the looney bin surrounded by ignorance, bullheaded blindness and people spouting Bull Shit all of the time.
I used to scare myself as I truly believed in Love and Peace but was also so very pissed off !! Now with the internet you can really get down with the massive info and also disinformation…….used to be you could just shut off the TV.
It is always so strange that the lessons are not learned and passed down through each generation……..of course the kids do not usually listen to the last generation either as they want to be thamselves. Many of the the children of Activists and Hippies became Yuppies and Evangelicals. Your vision is good and your thoughts were certainly well put.
Thanks for the very interesting points made.
Thanks Coveark and nice to see you.
I too believed years ago and still believe today in the basic humanity and goodness of people. Our corporately corrupted society has removed our guilt as best as it can in our choosing to be selfish at times and we are far too often.
However, and it’s too bad it takes this but when there is a tragedy, you see that humanity come out in so many. When we had the Northridge quake here in LA, in Louisiana after Katrina, as Kalima’s mentioned in Japan after the quake there, when something terrible happens, it seems like the facade we’re living in called modern society falls away and people become compassionate towards others.
Granted, those who are corrupt use such a time to prey on others but they are always in the minority as I’ve witnessed.
I was and remain very pissed off at a variety of things and rotten people, I think it is an asset because I use it as fuel. I think those who are apathetic or just don’t care enough about others that much and don’t get angry are not bad people but you won’t find them as often in voting booths and at rallies for meaningful issues. They are part of the problem though because their disinterest in what’s going on around them empowers those who are taking it away from them piece by piece.
I guess what I would like to see is a focused and concerted effort by The Left to express very concisely and directly, why people should be angry and how they can use that anger to right these wrongs.
We need to be angry, we can indeed believe in peace and love and at the same time be furious at the injustices being committed.
We need another 1960’s right now though without the issue of a draft, the youth are not as unified in activism but there are a lot of them out there who are and will be taking action.
Hey, always good to hear from you too.
Thanks for your reply.
That Northridge quake was a hum dinger. We moved to the mid South when CA priced us out of buying a house or even a mobile home on land. When Katrina happened I do have to say that the then Governor Huckabee was right on it. ( I would NEVER support him for President though) I was happy to do some hands on help in locating families of those who were dispached to camps here from NO.
That is what it is about. Empathy for the plight of others that are within our ability to be of service to.
I sincerely hope to go back home soon. Again I really appreciated your article and also the ‘right on ‘ reply. I cannot say that often as I do not want the right to go on……silly huh…:-0.
We also could use some really pounding passionate set your soul and heart on fire music !! ( Toby Keith did that about Iraq, Unfortunately) Bless the Dixie Chicks though. Well, bed time…Night 🙂
I guess I spoke too soon about music…..But….It needs to fire up this generation ……………If not………all on this post is very good.
Putting politics aside, the surrounding states around Louisiana helped out quite generously after Katrina.
It’s affirming to see people just acting as human beings instead of Repubs or Dems when there’s a disaster like this and humanity is so needed.
Very kind and meaningful for you to have helped families at that time, I have no doubt that it meant an enormous amount to them.
Agreed. I saw Bound For GLory not so long agao, all of those powerful songs Woody Guthrie wrote and sang about living in tough times in America and coming together. I’ve been thinking that some kind of modern take on that kind of socially activist music might really hit a chord with many right now and maybe even be a theme for coming together and taking action.
Either way, it sure feels like the people are pushing back right now. Sleep well!