There’s a lot of words that have been be used to describe the current atmosphere of our nation in the past couple of years. Annoyed, weak, irritated, broken and whiny, among other descriptions.

One word has been used more than any to summarize the attitudes of today’s Americans — angry.

And why shouldn’t we be? Sh*t’s gone cray. You could spark a violent debate between Republicans and Democrats simply questioning the color of dirt. Reality television likely destroys more brain cells in a week than could a year’s worth of ecstasy. And the Kardashians are about one licensing deal away from announcing that they’ve formed a campaign exploratory committee.

In the Editor’s Letter of Esquire’s February issue, Editor in Chief David Granger wrote, ‘It’s commonplace to note that outrage has become our normal national tone of voice, but it has. I don’t know where the anger comes from. But we need to fight against it.’

But I disagree. Side note: Mr. Granger, if you or one of your staff is to ever magically happen upon this little column, please understand that I am disagreeing in the most respectable way possible. I have the upmost respect and admiration for your publication — please don’t hold it against me if I’m ever in the position to be considered for an interview.

Anger isn’t our society’s problem. When has any society, with the exception of Switzerland and maybe Antarctica, ever been completely null and void of anger? When was our society, for that matter, last null and void of anger?

Tomas Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporter, currently writes a blog, The Best Defense, for foreignpolicy.com. On Jan. 30, he posted about the book he was reading — an advanced copy of Timothy Noah’s ‘The Great Divergence.’ Ricks wrote, ‘But I also was struck by an aside of his: ‘America was an angrier place during the 1960s and 1970s, but it’s a meaner place today.”

No doubt technology is the cause for the perceived hostility. The platform of rhetoric has been blown wide open, and there now exists an outlet for anyone and everyone who wishes to share his or her opinion.

But in the last century alone, our nation has been through the women’s suffrage movement, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, Vietnam protests, boy bands and a recession. There’s always something for our country to be angry over.

Anger can be ugly. It’s destructive and holds the potential of being downright apocalyptic — our country’s greatest tragedies and our world’s most devastating wars have been a result of anger. But so have the most revolutionary movements with the distraught over a situation and the desire to change it.

It’s our country’s stubbornness, not anger, that fuels the disagreements and the debates. Everyone has the right to be completely pissed off. Anger’s not the issue — society can’t continue to evolve without it. Rather than fight anger, or use it as a weapon rather than a tool, society needs to find the appropriate outlet to focus it on.

If people in society continue to yell at each other, point fingers and play the blame game well, the Kim Kardashian 2016 campaign may just become a reality.

Then we’ll really have a reason to be angry.

Lauren Tousignant is a senior communications and rhetorical studies and writing major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at letousig@syr.edu.   

Published on January 31, 2012 at 12:00 pm