If you pay any attention to the news -- granted, it's usually bad, very bad, or horrible -- you've probably noticed a lot of anger these days. Anger seems to be escalating, like an avalanche that threatens to bury our great nation. Everybody's angry. Lots of reasons why, and most of them are political, but I'll try not to get on a soapbox here and point out some things I've observed about this unpleasant emotion.
Anger clouds judgement. People who are angry cannot make rational decisions. Try talking to someone who is angry -- tell them to "calm down" and see how well that goes over. What once was a civilized debate with two people trying to share opposing views on a topic is now a shouting match laced with profanity. There is no middle ground. Civil discourse seems to have gone on permanent vacation and taken common sense with it. You may have noticed this phenomenon every time you get on Facebook. There are more 'organizations' now that took a grievance, whether real or imagined, and ran with it, using violence to get our attention. Somehow these organizations believe that if they resort to bullying, raping, rioting, murdering, and setting off bombs in public places, that they will earn our respect.
They couldn't be more mistaken.
Now let's consider our nation's leaders and those who aspire to be elected our next crop of leaders: why do they keeping stirring up anger? Harping on grievances, whether real or imagined, tends to earn them followers. They speak the words that people with grievances want to hear. Words like "equality" and "fairness." The divisiveness becomes a weapon for them. Just when we've calmed down enough to start a discussion on the real issues, they kick the hornets' nest again, and the media is all too happy to help with this effort. Why?
It's all been done before, of course. Many world leaders have preyed on people's anger, assuring them that they would have justice, that the rich would be made low, that no one would feel like an outcast or a victim anymore. They kept stirring the hornets' nest because they knew that if their rabid followers stopped a minute and really thought about what they were offering, and how it would be accomplished, that their powers would be stripped away in an instant.
You know their names: Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Hussein. There are many more and they are still among us. Anger is the tool of tyrants. Make them angry enough and they'll never question your motives, never take an objective look at your checkered background, and believe every lie you repeat.
Now let's consider our current crop of leaders or leader wannabes: which ones utilize all the arguments they can concoct to keep you seeing red? Which ones make you feel like you've gotten a raw deal out of life, and that the unfairness heaped upon you must be avenged? Which ones distract you from asking any questions of substance so you can make an informed decision?
Which ones compartmentalize you by gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, income, etc.? Why do they do that? Simple, by dividing us up into angry little groups, these leaders and wannabes know we will never take the time to seek the truth for ourselves. Compartments keep us under their control. It feels like they come out with new compartments every day. The 'them vs. us' mentality is working.
"United we stand, divided we fall" is impossible in a culture on anger. Again, the media is complicit in fueling this anger. Propaganda has always been the tool of tyrants. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for this year, but I hope that you will set the anger aside -- if that has been your determining factor -- and take an objective look at what you're being offered in exchange for your vote.
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