Be Outraged

 

In this 250th year of our American democracy, it feels like everyone is feeling the vulnerability of this form of government. Whether blasted by shocking actions or bombastic rhetoric, or eroded by a steady drip of subtle but impactful shifts, this grand experiment in rule of, by, and for the people is not impenetrable and in fact must be actively defended and cherished.

Even as much of the country feels a sustained cold blast, the heat of the national conversation is turned up to incendiary levels, stoked by both an unending news cycle and intense expression of differences in opinions on these newsworthy events. It seems intractable, because not only are we not agreeing about basic things or even agreeing to disagree, instead we are disagreeing about everything including about what it looks like to agree.

Is the goal for cooler heads to prevail? Even if we could take the temperature down a notch, I'm not even sure that's the right outcome to seek. We can be cordial, polite, and even deferential in expressing our differences of opinions, but if those differences are not mere intellectual pursuits but matters of life and death and dignity and humanity, then it is unproductive and insulting to insist on decorum while allowing injustice and brutality to continue. On the other hand, having a difference of opinions and being angry about those differences does not mean you are right and the other side is wrong and therefore you're entitled to be an a**hole, dehumanize one's opponents, and even wish or do physical harm to them.

When my kids were toddlers, logic went out the window once they got over-tired. At that point, you couldn't reason them back to reality. They were going to go down, and they were going to go down swinging. I worry we have reached this stage in our national discourse. We've lost the plot, forsaking our shared humanity and shared goals in order to satisfy our outrage by demonizing the other side.

What's worse (or perhaps better, if only so that everyone remains safe as opposed to inflicting physical harm on others), we no longer do battle directly with those who disagree with us, because we've figured out how to wall them off from our lives, both physically, on social media, and in our content sources. This is not how a democracy works. In a functioning democracy, there is a diversity of opinions, there is an agreed upon method for deciding who is in power, there is a side that runs things and there is an opposing side that keeps them honest. It is messy and it doesn't always work, but it is by far the least worst form of governing, and we have had some version of it for coming up on 250 years. And I don't know what is next for us.

Truly there is much to be outraged about. I wish that we retain that intensity, for it is warranted. But I also wish that we not become like over-tired toddlers, forgetting what is good for us and choosing instead to do things that are harmful to others and ultimately to ourselves. When are our differences of opinions existential matters that warrant outrage and force, and when are they acceptable disagreements for which hatred of and violence towards our opponents is to be condemned? O for the wisdom to know which and to act accordingly.