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Vail Daily column: All this anger is infuriating

Richard Carnes
My View

Is it just me, or does America’s latest obsession appear to be the multi-faceted emotion popularly known as anger?

Sure, it’s entertaining to watch on TV and follow online, but I am truly amazed at the excuses so many seem to have for their fury and rage, whether it’s actually real or not.

Road rage, Uber rage, plane rage, the economy, government shutdowns, political ignorance, a worthless Congress, unions, drug users, welfare users, Obamacare users, income inequality, terrorism, Muslims, illegal immigrants, continuing racial, ethnic and gender disparities, Patriot fans, the customer with 11 items in the 10-item lane, yada-yada-yada.



But what bothers me the most about it is that people act like these issues are something new.

They’re not.

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Remember the line: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”?

The movie was “Network” and was a hit forty years ago. Yep, way back in 1976 it was one of the most repeated phrases in the nation, with certain groups using it as a mantra for change because there was so much unfairness in the world.

Nothing’s really changed.

This kind of crap has been going on since the first primate wanted another’s banana and always will to some degree. The main difference today is the Internet and social media. People now have forums to express their anger that never existed until the last twenty years or so, and media-types have finally caught on to their viability for making news.

People have always begged for political and religious leaders to save them from whatever injustice they perceive to have been inflicted with. Face it, everybody’s a victim in some form or another. Women are victimized by men, children victimized by parents, blacks by whites, gays by straights and all four are victimized by those same political and religious leaders.

In today’s society, while it seems like more and more people are lashing out, understand that there are simply more and more people, period.

We all get frustrated from time to time, it’s just that now there are more opportunities for expressing it because it’s so easy to do so online. The mob mentality provides more perceived objective reasons to be upset, with the Internet being the perfect outlet for those reasons to be heard (but of course seldom understood).

Personally I’m not angry about any of it, as I find it entertaining. I do, however, find a great deal highly frustrating.

Americans are still dying in the Middle East for no reason. Racism is still a thing. The mentally-ill can still purchase a weapon and do whatever the hell they want with it. Some Americans will still place a vote solely upon the religious persuasion of a candidate. Actual breathing human beings truly believe, or at least pretend to, that a nut named Trump is a good thing for our nation.

My personal annoyance list is as long as anyone’s, I suppose, but the only thing we truly have to be “angry” about is the mountain closing so damned early.

That’s very irritating, and I don’t think it’s just me.

Richard Carnes, of Edwards, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.


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