Of Rage and Messaging
“28 Days Later” was one of the more frightening plots I’ve sat through. I suppose one could claim that it belongs somewhere on the zombie pantheon, but the way things got started was unique. Somehow monkeys were being tested and were filled with so much rage that their entire physical composition changed.
Of course, whether it is completely realistic to go from 0 to 100 by simply getting a little blood mixed with yours is neither here nor there. It’s a movie and you suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy it. If we turn our attention to real life we notice that things seem to be trending in that direction. People aren’t becoming zombie-like or anything like that. At least they aren’t yet.
The Will Smith/Chris Rock incident by itself isn’t proof of anything. It was a public display of someone losing their cool that happened to be captured on national television. What is alarming is the reaction that all of us had to that event. Some people sided with Rock while others sided with Smith. Many claimed they were both in the wrong. Taking sides is not what’s alarming here. What’s alarming is how people identified with Smith and the anger he had.
People openly fantasized about who they would smack if given the chance. Others turned the incident into memes and used it as a collective joke. I have to cop to the humor portion. I told a few jokes on social media myself.
Violence is a symptom. More to the point, the fantasies and jokes about violence are also a symptom. We are an angry people. Anger has managed to soak into our lives much like a virus. How we fight for what we want changes. After all, there is a reason why people call politics blood sport these days.
Maybe the key in this whole thing is identifying a common enemy. America has always been at its best when we can focus our collective energies on a common enemy. We could be talking about our own revolution. We could be talking about Hitler, Mussolini, and Japan in World War II.
The problem these days is that the common enemy is becoming more and more elusive. That common enemy is rage. It seeps into our lives and eventually gets us to do and say things that we never would have done in the first place. It gets the MAGA folks to abandon any last bastions of humanity to back a black hole of a human being. He says things they wish they could say. He lives the way they think they want to live.
Naturally, those that oppose MAGA and Q also find themselves giving into rage. We are angry that our world is so ugly and people seem to be giving into the ugliness. We are angry that even after all these years, people seem to give into racism, sexism, xenophobia, and all other forms of bigotry. We are angry that after all of the hard work of previous generations, the advancements that we made seem to be in peril.
We are collectively angry because it seems we have a process that nobody thinks is fair. One side thinks there is massive voter fraud because their guy lost. Another side thinks gerrymandering and other voter suppression tactics have their thumbs on the scales. We certainly believe one of those more than the other, but anger is the thing that unites them.
More than allowing one side to win or lose, it is anger that we cannot allow to win. Fighting fire with fire feels good in the moment. It feels better than the alternative. Yet, is it really better? If anger pushes us to fight for what we want then did we win anything? It can feel like we did in the moment, but when the dust settles we will find that anger is undefeated and it’s coming for us all.
Nick, if we must be angry the corollary to not allowing others to punch our buttons is: let it be a healthy anger. Healthy? Yes. The sort of energy inducing anger that leads to pro-active leadership and participation. Constructive and creative drives to register voters, help others to register for absentee ballots, the many sorts of things Ms. JJ and Mr. Maxey do for Texas prior to every election cycle. Follow former US Attorney General Eric Holder with the many states he has brought suit. Support the ACLU and SPLC. “Designate” a candidate to support or better yet be a candidate.
For the ‘moment’ our local school board meets with our satisfaction. But. Should that evuh change as we have seen in too many ALEC infected districts, we are ready to run. No. Not run away, run for the board. Plan. Having a plan is always good. Without a doubt Jane would make an excellent Governor of NV once our boys are older and somewhat more independent. Meanwhile my family with Jane have launched another plan – me as junior Senator from NV. lol Yeah. That’s highly doubtful. Me in Dee Cee would make the proverbial bull in a China shop seem like a speck of dust. City life for this country boy? But. Nevuh say nevuh. It’s not like Senators spend that much time working there. I could be home nearly every weekend, summers off and other weeks long vacations. Hmm … a Senator from and for NV. Yeah I could campaign on “you’ll nevuh catch me traipsing off to Russia and other spots on your tax dime.”
1> We are collectively angry because it seems we have a process that nobody thinks is fair.
We are collectively angry because we feel we have no agency.
2The experience of powerlessness, of helplessness, leads to rage, and then to despair and depression.
Sadness & desperation, Hard to live that way. End up just getting angry, easier way two live with the situation?
3I think all of us have fewer well rounded, ethical individuals to emulate. Our legislators and other officeholders are certainly showing us how to be selfish and even take to violence to get our way. Additionally, bad behavior makes lots of news; we used to say news was man bites dog, but now every dog bites man story is circulated.
4“ People openly fantasized about who they would smack if given the chance.”
Exactly.
5Instead of time machine, kill Hitler, we got Twitter time machine, slap Chris Rock. Or your personal nemesis.
Maybe Tipper Gore was right about excess violence sold to young people? Just saying based on your post.
6When people feel they have no chance of fair and timely resolution using the existing institutions, finding violence as the option seems more prudent. The saying “justice delayed is justice denied” is more timely than ever.
For reference:
*When President Kennedy was shot it took 1 week to form the *The Warren Commission was created in a week after JFK was assassinated.
*The January 6 Committee took 6 months to create.
*9 months passed before 1 subpoena was issued.
*14 months rolled by and only 1 public hearing from that committee.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is going in vacation for 2 weeks. Back in mid-April with the critical Voting Rights Act MIA.
7When I was a teenager I asked my Dad a question but can’t remember what I asked. I do remember his answer “who told you everything is fair”. I’m 69 now and have always remember those words, sometimes it goes my way sometimes it don’t. This has gotten me through I lot of anger.
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