Why are we all so angry lately?

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Unfortunately, I don't know if that genie can be put back into the bottle.

That genie's been out so long he's never going back. I've said it enough times here, I quit the news and the newspapers in the 80's. The reason at the time was absurd to most and everybody told me I was nuts. That was a long time ago and it was nothing new then.

But I can say that I don't think I've ever been less angry than I am today.

I don't get upset about routine things the way I used to. I see the long game, not details in the moment and I don't think I've ever been in a better place. I have been referred to in the past as a hot head and a snap case, and they were right! In my most recent review at work my boss commented on my lack of ego, my even keel and how I maintain calm up when things get crazy.

Who is this guy and how did he get in my body?

Maybe it's my age? Whatever it is, I wish I'd had it all along. I spent a lot of years getting worked up needlessly, yelling, screaming, fuming about inconsequential happenings and things out of my control.

This is much better.

In reply to Mr. Peabody :

That's a great mindset that I've tried to copy. It's been quite good for me following some pretty lousy times when depression hit me out of nowhere.

I'm still mindful of the fact that it happened - like falling off a cliff at age 49 - which scared the E36 M3 out of me... but trying to control that which you cannot control is really unhealthy.

In reply to Mr. Peabody :

At least to a certain extent, it's a choice we make.  I decided in my late 20's that being tense and angry about everything was not really serving me well, so I made a decision to try to calm down.  It mostly worked, although at 61, I will still throw the odd screwdriver now and then.

Maybe it is just me but I have a lot of hope for the future. Sure things kind of suck now but I think they will get better. Personally I have a lot of hope due to what I see from young people.

I think right now part of the issue is a lot of people don't feel like they can calm down because these disagreements are right in their face (on both/all sides).  Mask/vaccine mandates being the primary example.

I don't know.  I'm no where near as angry as I used to be.  

I am angry because the system is so rotten and corrupt that I can't find a candidate in either party that I can stand to vote for. And I have voted in every election since I was of legal age to do so. I guess that is political and I shouldn't have said it, but it's true. I am angry because the ever present media is everywhere 24/7, on billboards, on TV screens, in my mailbox and even on my phone making endless often crude attempts to influence me to do things that are against my self interest and in the interest of those who are paying for the media. They pop up their intrusive messages even when I don't seek them out and am trying to look at something else. I am angry because he who has the gold makes all the rules and he who has nothing is ignored and laughed at and that that is actually a part of our culture now. I can't be the only one.

Cue the "I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore", music now.

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

I am angry because the system is so rotten and corrupt that I can't find a candidate in either party that I can stand to vote for.

That will continue to happen until a significant number of Americans start voting third party...

...which will never happen as long as the majority Americans continues to believe there are only two "real" parties.

We The People have actually made it this way, ourselves.  And that is as far as I will go on this part of this topic.

Duke said:

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

I am angry because the system is so rotten and corrupt that I can't find a candidate in either party that I can stand to vote for.

That will continue to happen until a significant number of Americans start voting third party...

...which will never happen as long as the majority Americans continues to believe there are only two "real" parties.

We The People have actually made it this way, ourselves.  And that is as far as I will go on this part of this topic.

 

I would be in favor of a third and even a fourth and fifth party in the mix. It seems to work in other countries. Unfortunately the powerful people in the two major parties and the mainstream media are strongly against third parties. You can't even get media coverage for them.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

So you pick the third-party platform that most aligns with your own principles and vote for that party.  Do not believe the lie that you are throwing your vote away by doing that.

I have voted in every presidential and mid-term election since 1984, and I have never once voted for a presidential candidate from the Big Two.  It hasn't always been the same third party, but it's never been one of the two majors.  I'm secure in my knowledge that this is not my fault, and that I've done my best to avoid helping us get in this situation.

But again, this is not really a thread about voting, and this is not really a forum that tolerates some forms of politics.

In reply to OHSCrifle :

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

My wish is for social media companies to act as a contract tracer for lies. If a story is proven to be false, go ahead and label the people perpetuating the story as untrustworthy. To regain credibility, they'd have to earn it back. 
 

That sounds good in theory, but at some point it would rely on someone else making a decision as to what is truth and what is lie. Pick just about any topic and pick a side that you want me to promote, defend or attack, and I could find "truths" to support the argument. Here's an example...

Of the 22,215 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, 47% were not wearing seat belts. 

So I could write...

People who wear seat belts make up the majority of car crash fatalities. 

I'm not lying, my statement is fact. It doesn't tell the whole truth, but rarely any reporting does. This is why the reader needs to be responsible for themselves. Be skeptical, look for confirmation from another source. Question anything with numbers. You need both the raw number and the percentage to get context on many statistics, choosing one and omitting the other can be misleading. As can be what is included in the sample. Figures lie and liars figure. 
 

The reverse is also true. Calling something a lie doesn't make it so, no matter how many times it's repeated. That's the danger of mob rule, the mob gets to determine what is a lie. 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Man, I'm starting to want to follow you around and :golfclap: every one of your posts lately.

Some non-political reasons we're all so angry.  How about 30th in infant mortality, next-to-last in income equality, highest healthcare costs by almost double of the next highest country, highest obesity, one of the highest suicide rates, highest Covid deaths by twice the next highest country and one of the highest per capita death rates from Covid... for being such a great country, we sure do suck at a lot of things.  Maybe instead of shouting at the wind, we (as a country) need to take a look in a mirror and start to wonder why our governing structure (on every side, not just blue or red) has failed us so deeply

ProDarwin said:

I think right now part of the issue is a lot of people don't feel like they can calm down because these disagreements are right in their face

A 94 year old Pastor I know decided later in life that he wasn't going to argue with people.  You have your view and you're probably not going to change so why argue and get mad?   He's done all the arguing he wants in life   

I'll never get there with me being part Italian and being married to a strong willed, stubborn, mean headed southern wife.

Mr. Peabody.  I think the word you are looking for is Stoicism.  It's actually a philosophy and state of mind that some try to attain.  Of course, you really do want to mostly apply this to the bad side, but being a bit less enthusiastic on the good side is not a bad thing either.  And yes, I am certain age has a lot do do with it, and one of the reason you have to be careful with youth in leadership positions (not all of course).  Also the much higher crime rate amongst younger people is also part of this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism

Great post Boost.  It is something VERY important that most don't understand at all.  "Truth" and "Facts" can be entirely valid and (at least seemingly) completely contradictory.

A similar thing can be said for "science".  I see a common use of "science" as a bit of a drop mic situation.  Science is generally very specific (applies to very specific thing, the more specific, the more accurate), and when done properly invites contention / argument.  There is also a lot of use of the word science, that is absolutely not science, not in the real sense of the word.  This applies to ALL sides of the arguments BTW.

BTW, that last chart above is rather deceptive and maybe a good example.  It shows correct data, but it can be VERY easy for someone to misinterpret it (it IS labeled correctly, but presented kind of deceptively)

In reply to aircooled :

Agreed on many if not all of your points, particularly about that last chart.

One of my various peeves is people who think that because scientific understanding changes, that it is therefore invalid.

Well, no, it isn't.  That is, in fact, exactly how science works.

aircooled said:

Mr. Peabody.  I think the word you are looking for is Stoicism.  It's actually a philosophy and state of mind that some try to attain.  Of course, you really do want to mostly apply this to the bad side, but being a bit less enthusiastic on the good side is not a bad thing either.  And yes, I am certain age has a lot do do with it, and one of the reason you have to be careful with youth in leadership positions (not all of course).  Also the much higher crime rate amongst younger people is also part of this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism

I have studied Stoicism and read the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. I am not so good at applying it to my own life. a good response to the insanity in the world today.

Man, I love that Curtis. 

Always coming in with the knowledge.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

We've had these types of conversations before.  Let's just say the issues you raised and suggested as being a result of a failed governmental system are the very things I do not believe the governmental system should have any direct involvement in.  The more they get involved the worse things will be.  Until it's anarchy. 

Duke said:

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

I am angry because the system is so rotten and corrupt that I can't find a candidate in either party that I can stand to vote for.

That will continue to happen until a significant number of Americans start voting third party...

...which will never happen as long as the majority Americans continues to believe there are only two "real" parties.

We The People have actually made it this way, ourselves.  And that is as far as I will go on this part of this topic.

 

I try not to get too political anywhere because it's not really gonna change any minds but I absolutely agree on the assumption that there are only 2 "real " parties bit. I also believe those 2 "real" parties are able to get alot more funds then other 3rd parties.

But the usage of we-are-better-then-they-are is by far the most effective way of gaining control of a large amount of people. Greatness by comparison is not greatness

Nick Comstock said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

We've had these types of conversations before.  Let's just say the issues you raised and suggested as being a result of a failed governmental system are the very things I do not believe the governmental system should have any direct involvement in.  The more they get involved the worse things will be.  Until it's anarchy. 

I will always celebrate and respect your right to that opinion but I politely disagree.  Within those statistics I think you'll find that most of the countries with the more favorable numbers are countries where the government has MORE involvement.

Now... whether or not OUR government would do as well as they have... that's a whole new topic.    I think we would have a lot of common things to talk about there.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

But before you let those charts make you angry, did you examine them carefully to make sure that they are not misleading, either intentionally or unintentionally? The charts you referenced are some of the toughest to vet. First, how are the numbers reported? Does each country have the same reporting  standards? On some charts, the whole premise is misleading. Some of them are showing very old data. Some might be 100% accurate, but are only showing you a small part of the picture. If you rank something 10 out of 10, that looks bad, especially if you scale the chart to highlight the differences. If you increase the sample size to 100, and they are 10 out of 100, that doesn't look so bad. But it's the same data, just presented differently. Those graphs should be the start of your research, not the end. 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Within those statistics I think you'll find that most of the countries with the more favorable numbers are countries where the government has MORE involvement.

On the face of it, the numbers do seem to bear that out. Look how great China is doing with Covid, not even on the list, despite being having a high population and being the country of origin. Wait a minute...

Curtis' presentation is reminiscent of the open scene of the HBO series, Newsroom (which I highly recommend.)  

I'll just leave this here...