Why are we all so angry lately?

And I know I'm part of it.

I wouldn't say I'm angry, just disappointed with people as a whole

I would say angry.

I'm not angry; at least not any more than normal.

Maybe it's me; as I get older I do have less tolerance for idiots.

Or maybe it's just that these days, more idiots are feeling empowered to demand the world stage.

Anger, disappointment and fatigue.  Not a good combination, but it does make certain threads very entertaining until they get locked.

I think there's a lot of factors. Going to be careful with my wording here. In a world that feels like it is continually spiraling further and further out of control, it wears on people and frustrates them. Humans are social creatures by nature, and being in isolation these past couple years has had a deleterious effect on mental health.

It's been a tough couple of years. Pandemic fatigue has set in. The winter blues are Alive and well for some. Cabin fever, loneliness, loss of purpose or direction have hit others. The us vs them mentality seems to have crept in to many parts of our daily lives and that E36 M3 is exhausting. Distrust, misinformation,  decisiveness etc all seem to be slowly eroding peoples peice (or is it peace?) Of mind.....

I could go on but honestly, I don't know the real answer, but it is noticeable. 

OMG, everyone is so freaking angry, rude and entitled. It has actually made me less so. In a world where people are being morons, I can sometimes get aggravated, maybe honk. But now, people are so angry, I fear that people might shoot me if I even roll my eyes. 

I work in insurance claims. 'nuff said.

Dude. I have no idea. I had a coworker blow up on me yesterday for asking him to put the foreman's name on his parts list. Literally said we should take it outside if I had a problem with him 'doing whatever the berkeley he wanted'

Whoa dude. That went to 11 real quick.

Are they putting something in the water?

They've not been watching Bill and Ted. 

Society in general, Too much time on social media and watching the "news".

Where I live, traffic has tripled. Housing prices have doubled. Rent is stupid expensive where it didn't used to be. Gas is getting more expensive. There are shortages of everything from cars to places to live. Parks and public areas that were nice a few years ago are now always packed with homeless people and panhandlers. Texas is becoming the new California if not the new India. My phone is ringing off the hook with con artists and hustlers from around the world wanting to sell me scam health insurance, bitcoin classes, car repair warranties, solar panel leasing scams, roof inspections, or wanting to buy my house or car and sell it to somebody else for more than they pay me for it. There is more outright crap on the media than there used to be, and there is more media. Most new music just sucks.

But that's just where I live. Your mileage may vary.

Things aren't as good as they were in the past. Or maybe I am just getting old.

Hypocrisy.

A lot of it is people reading stuff into posts that's not there, then getting angry about it for some reason. Always trying to steer the conversation into an odd direction. I guess to prove some type of point?

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
 

There is more outright crap on the media than there used to be, and there is more media.

True.

Most new music just sucks.

Not true.  Most new popular music sucks.  But that has been true since the dawn of recorded music.

No matter what type of music you like, someone, somewhere - and probably not where you expect - is making really good new music in that style.

What do you like?  Maybe I can help with some recommendations.

But that's just where I live. Your mileage may vary.

I hear ya.  And I share many of your complaints.

Things aren't as good as they were in the past. Or maybe I am just getting old.

Correction:  Things aren't as good now as they were during the good times in the past.  That's an important distinction.

Maybe you've heard me rant about the 1970s.  Leaving aside my feelings on the subjective aesthetic issues, the '70s were a pretty awful time in the world, purely from the political, social, and economic standpoints.  I don't think what we're going through now is any worse than, say, 1975-1979 were.

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

Where I live, traffic has tripled. Housing prices have doubled. Rent is stupid expensive where it didn't used to be. Gas is getting more expensive. There are shortages of everything from cars to places to live. Parks and public areas that were nice a few years ago are now always packed with homeless people and panhandlers. Texas is becoming the new California if not the new India. My phone is ringing off the hook with con artists and hustlers from around the world wanting to sell me scam health insurance, bitcoin classes, car repair warranties, solar panel leasing scams, roof inspections, or wanting to buy my house or car and sell it to somebody else for more than they pay me for it. There is more outright crap on the media than there used to be, and there is more media. Most new music just sucks.

But that's just where I live. Your mileage may vary.

Things aren't as good as they were in the past. Or maybe I am just getting old.

I'm mostly just exhausted, frustrated, and a bit depressed. There's no fixing a lot of it which doesn't help. 

Well, I mean, it's *in* AngryCorvair's name...

Pandemic fatigue. 
 

I've been an essential worker and haven't missed a day through the entire time. And honestly, I'm tired of a great deal of people not carrying their part of the load. 
 

The world has not kept trucking right along while people stayed home. There is monumentally more work to do, and fewer people to do it. Supply chains are turned upside down, costs fluctuate by a factor of 5X regularly, customers still want their stuff, but now my job includes listening to them bitch AND protecting the health and welfare of the people around me. OSHA is fighting to hold employers accountable for COVID infections, and that means my employer expects a great deal more work from me documenting every stupid detail to try to avoid stupid fines. Meanwhile, government is at a standstill, permits which used to take a couple days to issue take months, and everyone just wants to argue about E36 M3 that is out of their control instead of actually doing their jobs.

I am tired of carrying other people on my back.  Especially the bitchy ones. 
 

I'll retire soon. That will be one less person to help get the work done.

A combination of stupidity, ignorance, willful ignorance, psychopathy, selfishness, lack of empathy, and an inability to apply critical thinking skills are making quite a few things more difficult with people I used to enjoy talking with.

People I once respected have made such terrible decisions that are negatively impacting my community that we are considering moving. 

I haven't had a raise since 2019. Meanwhile, our CEO has been raking in at least $15M a year and our President who did a bad enough job to get the boot got at least $10M a year. 

That is about all I can say here without crossing into the political. 

Duke said:

Things aren't as good as the were during the good times in the past.  That's an important distinction.

Maybe you've heard me rant about the 1970s.  Leaving aside my feelings on the subjective aesthetic issues, the '70s were a pretty awful time in the world, purely from a politcal, social, and economic standpoint.  I don't think what we're going through now is any worse than, say, 1975-1979 were.

 

1975 to 1979 were my high school years. I don't remember them being that bad. Mom and dad both had good jobs. We lived in a very nice new two story suburban house that might have cost dad about $40,000 and dad owned another house that we rented out. Our family belonged to a local country club with an olympic sized pool where my sister and I would hang out during the summer. Kids at my high school were driving Porsche 914s, Camaros, Firebirds and Barracudas. there were also new Datsuns, Toyotas, Pintos and Vegas in the parking lot. I drove a 69 Mustang. My friend Rick got a new Corvette for his 18th birthday. We cruised the main drag and gas, even though it was up to $1 a gallon back then, was more reasonable that it is today. Everybody had dirt bikes and we rode on vacant lots and farmers fields with our Yamaha Enduros and Hodaka Super Rats. I had a Yamaha LT2 back then, in bright green. Our high school had a ski bus that went to places like Lake Tahoe and Kirkwood and lift tickets were $12.

Our community college was free back then except for a $5 registration fee. The University of California charged $450 per quarter. If your daddy was rich or you could get lots of scholarships, Stanford and USC were about $8,000 a year. Nobody had big student loans back then. It wasn't a problem.

We would watch Saturday Night Live and Belushi and Chevy Chase and the whole original cast was there. Movies were better. Not so politically correct, but actually funny. Music was better. Concerts were everywhere.

The 70's were a much better time to live that today. We were less angry and more happy back then, even without smartphones and the internet.

We actually looked forward to college and a career and a home in the suburbs filled with cool sports cars. What do kids have to look forward to today? Huge student loans and expensive apartments filled with roommates? Temp work and gig jobs plus a side hustle just to make your nut every month. Expensive leased EVs that look like appliances?

The following it 100% my interpretation based on no facts, just observations and assumptions:

1. We don't see each other face to face.  I had a guy I worked with who was the polar opposite of me politically, but I respected him because I worked with him every day and he is a good guy.  We'd have long rambling discussions about the way things are being done in the world.  Heated? Often.  Angry/disrespectful/hateful?  Never.  And I think it was because we did have to work together and see each other every day.  I actually miss having those chats with him.  We both would come out of them learning a bit about the "other side". 
2. "I can't do a damn thing about it" problem.  We are inundated every day with reports around the country and world of bad things.  Great that we're more aware, but worse because there's "not a damn thing I can do about it".  Some genocide in another country?  Horrible.  Anything I can do in my day to day to make a difference.  Nope.  Gas prices going up?  That sucks.  Anything I can do?  Not today.  Not tomorrow.  Maybe when elections roll around every few years I can pull a lever for someone I think might do something about it.  But that ain't much.  I would say humans, in general, are compassionate.  I believe it has to take a toil on everyone's psyche to see problems and know you can't fix it.  Maybe less news would be a good thing....
3. The pandemic.  Not only has there been isolation, but businesses have struggled.  People have been in fear of their physical, mental and financial help.  We can't get out to see each other (see 1. above) and there's nothing you can do except accept it (see 2. above).  Or, you can get frustrated and think you're doing something by not following the rules or being against the populous.  Still doesn't make a difference, but there's some joy in being different. The masks have also had a toil on us.  We are social creatures who read each other's faces more than we listen.  With everyone wearing a mask, there has to be some type of affect that's having on us mentally.  Personally, I love to smile and it's the only thing I miss about wearing a mask.  Smiling at the cashier.  Smiling at someone at the store.  It's a tiny thing, but it does make a difference.
4. With all the above, we will gravitate to what makes us comfortable.  20 years ago, that meant social gatherings, religious gatherings, workplaces, stores, etc.  Today, everything is virtual.  So, we gravitate to those things online that give us a semblance of connection in ideas.  Because we choose that, we end up in a echo chamber of those ideas.

Finally, one other thing because I've seen myself do it.  There is zero emotion in text.  We have a tendency to apply whatever our current mental state or feeling is to what we read on the screen.  Regardless of intent.  I've used this example with my team when we went WFH and used chat more:

My wife could text me, "Are you home right now?".  Depending on my mood I could take that as, A) She's being nosy, B) Great, what does she need me to do no, C) Might be something she needs me to do, D) Gosh it's awesome to have a wife who likes to know I'm safe and at home.  And there are others, probably 10 different reactions I could have to those 5 words, al based on what I'm feeling when I read it. 

-Rob

I've been stuck in this berkeleying house for over two years now
Despite this job helping me financially be in a much better position, due to all sorts of global problems I'm not saving any money, I'm actually starting to lose it.
I have to drive 1.5 hours a day minimum in order to get to work and home every day.  In the ~4 or 5 months I've been working here there have been two fatal accidents that I know of along the stretch of road I'm on.  Once a week I have a close call with an accident because people here drive like shiny happy people.
I actively see my friends turning away from the shared values that caused us to be friends.

Nothing I see is getting better at any level

I'm amazed I'm as sane as I am.

E36 M3's going crazy. Everyone feels out of control. So people try harder to control the few things that they can.