My fear is that the 24/7 media feedback loop is changing our anger calculus. Like porn on the Web, political anger is becoming a compulsion. The Joe Stacks of the world — the ones who are mad as hell and about to fly a plane into an IRS office — could always find compatriots, but now they can congregate instantly, on a fan page on Facebook, for instance. It’s all become too easy, accessible and, in some cases, merely an end in itself.
I’m not concerned that this indulgent anger will produce thousands of Joe Stacks; he was an extreme case. My real worry is that the garden-variety version of this anger will be so virulent and inescapable that it will so alienate other, cooler citizens that they will give up on politics altogether.
I mean, if you’re not frothing at the mouth, what are your choices? I see only two: Either leave politics to the furious ones, or get so angry about the state of affairs that you have no choice but to fight back.
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