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> It's like some sort of outrage porn that keeps getting remixed over and over again, and becoming some sort of fractal version of itself. This is such a good

> It's like some sort of outrage porn that keeps getting remixed over and over again, and becoming some sort of fractal version of itself. This is such a good description of the problem. Right now it feels like people are angry about being angry, and the mood seems to me somewhat detached from the reality around us. By historical standards things right now are not that bad, but a lot of people act like we’re living through the apocalypse. My personal take is that this is the natural product of the social media / hyper media era. It’s easy to make a lot of money making people angry (“outrage porn”), but there’s no money in calming people down. I wish that weren’t the case.

ordinaryradical 8y ago
This is true, but it’s also true (if you are American, at least) that we’re living through a major upheaval in our governing institutions. So another way of reading this outrage is that when your president is permitted to do outrageous things daily, to collude with a foreign power to meddle in our elections, to defend that power on the international stage, and to help his family profit by that power... well, you may start to feel a little panicked, outraged, or out of control. The norms of democracy are starting to show their weaknesses. The assumed reasonable limits have proven themselves to have never been there. And it comes with a bizarre dissonance because locally speaking you may be doing just fine, stock market is up, etc. etc. That atmosphere also creates a kind of helpless anger that goes looking for targets and attention. It’s almost an existential coping mechanism, I think.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  > The assumed reasonable limits have proven themselves to have never been there. I think that's going too far. They were there. And then, over succeeding presidents of both parties, they were a little less there. And then, with this president, suddenly "reasonable limits" was a totally foreign concept. But the reasonable limits were there, and really did limit behavior.
AnimalMuppet 8y ago
We are living through the apocaypse! We aren't totally triumphant over The Other Side like we should be!

ordinaryradical 8y ago

This is true, but it’s also true (if you are American, at least) that we’re living through a major upheaval in our governing institutions. So another way of reading this outrage is that when your president is permitted to do outrageous things daily, to collude with a foreign power to meddle in our elections, to defend that power on the international stage, and to help his family profit by that power... well, you may start to feel a little panicked, outraged, or out of control. The norms of democracy are starting to show their weaknesses. The assumed reasonable limits have proven themselves to have never been there. And it comes with a bizarre dissonance because locally speaking you may be doing just fine, stock market is up, etc. etc. That atmosphere also creates a kind of helpless anger that goes looking for targets and attention. It’s almost an existential coping mechanism, I think.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
> The assumed reasonable limits have proven themselves to have never been there. I think that's going too far. They were there. And then, over succeeding presidents of both parties, they were a little less there. And then, with this president, suddenly "reasonable limits" was a totally foreign concept. But the reasonable limits were there, and really did limit behavior.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago

We are living through the apocaypse! We aren't totally triumphant over The Other Side like we should be!