Reply #29: I think balance is key here.... [View All]

[meganmonkey]

We ARE angry, most of us here, on some level. The key is where we aim our anger, where we express it, and what we do with it.

It is difficult not to be angry at the people who voted for bush**. We don't understand how they could do support him, especially after the last 4 years. To some extent we can blame 'media' and 'society' and 'culture' for their ignorance and messed up priorities, but I have a hard time with that because I believe in personal responsibility. It is not easy to be fully informed, and it isn't pleasant to realize how corrupt and messed up this country is. And that is downright depressing, contributing to the anger...Yet we still seek out information and have passionate debate and try to find Truth. Why don't they? I don't know.

BUT - to some extent, they think the same way about us. They truly believe that they grasp the issues and that they are right. And despite the fact that they are running the show, politically and media-wise, they are still angry at us. So where does that leave us?

I am not one to suppress anger. Thank (god/dess) for DU! I can be as smarmy and sarcastic as I want and it isn't really personal because I am not naming names - except for the politicians and other public figures (who are fair game, IMHO). I try not to make too many broad generalizations, but that is just a personal thing and I certainly lapse from time to time here.

But outside of DU, when we are face-to-face with people, we have to think about what our goals really are. We truly believe we are right, and we want the rest of the nation to see it that way, right? Or at the very least, we want to win. We want the good bills to pass and the bad ones to fail, we want the Dems to win elections.

Which means we cannot afford to alienate people. Even if we think they are aliens (I mean the kind from outer space) because HOW IN THE HELL COULD THEY POSSIBLY THINK BUSHCO IS GOOD FOR THE USA? (Ooops, there is that anger creeping up ;) )

But I think it comes down to figuring out how to change minds. Because ultimately we have to. Fortunately the repubs are f*ing up so bad our work seems to be getting easier, at least we can weed out the people who we will never change (those who think congress was right to interfere with the Schiavo case, for example). But we have to be able to reach people, so we have to mellow out the anger in certain arenas. I don't mean to compromise positions, in any way. I am pretty far left and I make no apologies for that. But we need to be accessible, whatever that means. And being angry and heated may rally the base, but it won't change minds.

On a personal level, I find that too much anger leads to hatred and I try to avoid that. It makes my shoulders tense and my back pain flare up (I use Flexiril for that) ;)