Should we risk using anger to arouse America?

Larry Kummer, Editor

12 years ago

Summary: Anger can be a political tool, motivating both an organization’s cadre and its mass audience. Too risky or the other available tool? Today we examine both sides of the issue, and end with a question for readers.

“As for those American soldiers asking, “Was our sacrifice in Fallujah worth it?,” one is at a loss about how to reply to the thought that comes to mind this week: No, it really wasn’t. It is time to get angry.”

— “What the War in Iraq Wrought“, Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 15 January 2014

I remain convinced that motivating Americans is the key to starting a reform movement, both to obtaining the key people necessary to build an organization — and to spur public interest and then involvement. Appeals to logic and theory are insufficient. Anger is the key to arouse passion, and passion unlocks resources — people’s time and money.

America, especially the construction of New America on the ruins of the old, provides a plethora of sparks to arouse anger. Jon Anderson mentions one. The bank bailouts rightly aroused anger that led to the Tea Party Movement. The ongoing diversion of Federal, State, and local tax dollars to the 1% provides another.

Readers objected in the comments that anger has an irrational component, easily exploited by unscrupulous leaders. Worse, it often precludes effective decision-making, the balancing of resources, goals, risk, and moral considerations. Too often it leads to futile, senseless violence.

These are all valid points. Consider the dark side of this quote I’ve often cited:

The dark side of our hero. From “The Enemy Within”

“Telemachus, now is the time to be angry.”
— Odysseus to his son, when the time came to deal with the Suitors. From the movie The Odyssey (1997)

That’s a fun line. A powerful line. What followed warns us about unleashing rage.

Odysseus returns home after 20 years of war and travel, to find 108 men have been living in his house, suitors for his wife (thought to be a widow, living high at his expense. Seeing the living Odysseus, their legendary King, justly enraged, one of the suitors made a proper offer (from the book). Eurymachus:

“We will make everything good among ourselves, and pay you in full for all that we have eaten and drunk. Each of us shall pay you a fine worth 20 oxen, and we will keep on giving you gold and bronze till your heart is softened.”

Odysseus responds by the senseless slaughter of all 108 suitors. Of course, their relatives then come to kill him in revenge. Only divine intervention prevents repeated cycles of murder. Anger at work.

The Dangerous Path

The sharp instrument of anger often cuts the hand that wields it. Yet we can ransack the nation’s philosophy and theology classes and find few of the many people needed to undertake the long, difficult, often irksome tasks of reforming America. People to accept its weighty responsibility and the personal risks. Especially given the low odds of success. History shows that instead we should seek people burning with anger at what America has become.

How to manage this anger? American history provides lessons for us, examples of both failure and success. Consider the many times people (non-State actors) have used violence: Native Americans, the anarchists, the radical leftists, many unions — all unsuccessfully. Successful political movements have abjured violence: the abolitionists (mostly), the suffragettes, the temperance movement, and the civil rights movement (especially in the Martin Luther King era, in the face of violence against them).

It’s easy to decide which to imitate. Anger works, but only when channeled.

On the other hand, what’s the alternative to evoking anger — accepting the risks to gain its benefits?

Don’t bother looking for safe path to reform. We are far beyond the point of easy solutions. Choose among the dangers to find a way that however perilous might lead to a reformed America.

Question for Readers

How to reform America is the most requested subject in the comments. This is the 35th post discussing the mechanics of reform.

Here is a question for you (post your answer in the comments: on how many other websites have you seen this question raised by readers? How many websites have discussions about the nuts and bolts of reforming America (not single issue or partisan politics) — beyond the usual “we must get everybody to think as one about ____”. Naked Capitalism? Angry Bear? Huffington Post? Instapundit?

Let’s benchmark these posts against those of others working on this problem.

For More Information

(a) Recommended: “When Martin Luther King gave up his guns“, Mark Engler and Paul Engler, Waging Non-Violence, 15 January 2014 — Origin of MLK’s strategy of confrontational non-violent protest.

(b) Posts about anger: