Is America addicted to outrage?

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Outrage has its purpose in the political process.

Individuals are worth nothing in our society. Everything comes down to organized political groups. The only way to get the government's attention is to form very loud groups that can show that they have the power to stymie government projects. A perfect example is a master homeowners' Association that organizes its homeowners, using the common bond of outrage to control them. And it is surprising how easy it is to yield our voices to individuals who we presume to have louder voices than our own. Where the process is getting hijacked is that the local government leaders and the HOA leaders are often the same. If we observe carefully we can see the seams of this orchestration when they publicly announce their compromise. While leaders insist we're moving forward, what many of us come to learn is that behind closed doors our individual rights as homeowners were violated in ways that could never have happened unless the entire process were corrupt and damaged.

And guess what? When we figure out that we've been had, it produces more outrage. Only, individual outrage is worth nothing in our society.



I think to ask if America is addicted to outrage is belittling the problem. Without outrage there is nothing. You will not be able to motivate people to discuss political change without it. It exists because people have real problems that the current system is not addressing. If they were warm and happy in their private lives there would be no reason to even engage in "thoughtful discussions" on the internet.

Think of a game of tug-of-war between the left and the right. The only thing that stimulates change is outrage. We just need to be better at finding leaders who will not hijack our efforts.