Politics

Public Fury and National Temper Tantrum

American rage has become a steady drumbeat in our lives

Children have temper tantrums because they don’t have the vocabulary, and they can’t identify feelings, resulting in screaming, yelling, crying, whining, and fussing. You expect outbursts of uncontrolled behavior from a two-year-old, but it adds a whole new dimension when the person screaming or throwing a temper tantrum is an adult.

The total meltdown

Anger is remarkable not in and of itself, but when it becomes so widespread, it feels like the dominant cultural force. Social media is filled with clips of adults losing control in public places. We’ve all seen these on airplanes, in restaurants, children’s sporting events, and in traffic. The tantrum throwers shout, scream, shake their fists, honk their horns, yell insults, and lead to physical altercations. At the gym today, I witnessed a man and a woman in a heated verbal war, which escalated to yelling and swearing and more than a few hurt feelings and bruised egos. Apparently, she thought he was looking at her and took offense. The fact that her skimpy clothes and fire-engine red hair screamed ‘look at me’ had escaped her.

This incident got me thinking.

When did we become a nation of cranky, spoiled brats who dissolve into temper tantrums every time something doesn’t go our way? There’s no lack of opinion. Political scientists talk about the vulnerability of presidential systems. Sociologists explain the cultural struggles. Historians note the expanding divide between the parties after white Southerners abandoned the Democratic Party following the Civil Rights Era. And the toxicity from our screens undoubtedly rattles cages and unleashes blatant disregard for manners and basic human kindness.

Politics that stirs seemingly irrational behavior

Polarization perpetuated by politicians and news sources encourages explosiveness. They are infuriated at public officials for closing down portions of society. Or, for the contrary reason, they aren’t doing enough to control the virus. Democrats express their anger at Republicans. And Republicans consider Democrats not as opponents but as enemies. Political blog writers deliver information that supports their political beliefs. They hold more extreme political views and have higher political participation rates when compared to non-blog readers.

Political teams are chosen; amidst heated debates and much anger, someone declares victory, and the media both fuels and thrives on the contestation. Monuments are then erected or removed. History canceled or celebrated; books written about a triumph of historical engagement. Anger abounds, reverberating for years to come — battles that never entirely end. Nations have risen and collapsed on the success of their histories.

Mass hysteria

Many reasons factor into our ire. From a political perspective, the critical one is trust in government. Thanks to Vietnam and Watergate, confidence in government plummeted during the ’60s and ’70s and then flattened out for the next few decades. Manufacturing jobs vanished when China was granted the most-chosen-nation standing in 2001, and middle-class incomes halted through the majority of the early 21st century. Conservatives had to accept a steady liberalization of cultural norms.

For the most part, mass hysteria occurs within related groups that share information. This inclination for people to share a fixed mistaken perception based on information exchange perpetuates shared misperception that motivates behavior. Social media keeps modern outrages that are so persistent in our consciousness. The nature of twenty-first-century media, coupled with up-front information manipulation, may create conditions favorable for mass hysterical reactions.

Public fury and hysteria in America aren’t new

As the American founders are being taken off their pedestals to reject the history they represent, Americans find themselves at conflict over their history — what it is, who owns it, how it should be interpreted and taught. History is revised, driven by new evidence and fresh questions. As we dig into the source of our collective rage, it’s natural to believe that things happening today are worse than ever.

The Bill of Rights guarantees that we can quarrel with one another in the public square, through a free press, and in open court.

A mountain of data suggests that the American preference for ire is neither new nor growing. Anger has been a part of humanity, and it’s in the Bible and novels and plays, and it’s one of the most common emotions people say they feel. History shows us that the 1790s were a time of political hostility. Over that whole decade, political opponents attacked each other, claiming that they had forsaken the core American principles.

America is a country born of revolution. War — on battlefields, in the media, at the ballot box — has been with us from the beginning. American history is dotted by episodes in which aggrieved political parties have settled their differences not through conversation but with guns. However, despite decades of rage, America united as a nation. Yet, today’s rage-filled country may not end up the same way. Recently, the tone of our anger has altered. It has become less occasional and more enduring, a steady drumbeat in our lives. It is focused less often on people we know and more often on groups that are easy to demonize.

America as family

History tells us that Americans have always been angry and ready to snap. Maybe because they care — at least at some level, at least instinctively. But, as impossible as tempers may seem, a genuine democracy not only tolerates anger and the reinterpretation of its past, but continues to expand its reach.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this article.

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