You know which trend of articles I'm talking about -- the ones published after Miley twerked on stage, while Robin Thicke got away with his "Blurred Lines". Oh! And The Duck Dynasty madness. On and on it goes. You know, the articles which make those who consider themselves "feminists" or "conservatives" or "anti-racists" angry and upset. Upset enough to flood their Facebook dash with arguments against the party that doesn't affirm their view. Upset enough to write ANOTHER article describing the evils of the person for allowing the racism, sexism, classicism, elitism to happen in this or that situation.
Most of these news subjects being situations which the news is most likely not going to follow up on a year from now.
But ignoring that fact, the arguments explode all over the social media. Of course, until everyone forgets or moves on to the next thing to get angry about.
I've gotten to the point where I've become very weary from all the dismissive articles and simplistic passive-aggressive memes I find on social media serving as some form of resistance. I've even begun to feel hostile feelings towards these expressions as I have progressively grown more and more frustrated. I decided to take a moment to reflect on the previous instances which I have gotten annoyed and frustrated from the sudden uprisings and disappearances of angry vocal people on social media to figure out why I felt this way.
Even though I would consider myself as someone who cares about social equality (and there are sides that I certainly lean a little stronger towards), I see the posts and the reactions and I find myself frustrated because I see so much energy but very little positive change around me. I wonder to myself where is all this anger going? In fact, where DOES it all go?
Does the anger just stay online on the forums, in the comment boxes, on our Wordpress dashboard and Twitter feeds? Does it just stay in our heads as an ideology? Does the anger not transform itself? Does it just stay as that: anger?
Frankly, I'm tired of this trend of immediate, angry reacting. This is a reaction to every little thing, every little post and news article with anger that I have no clue where it will lead us.
To be clear, I think it is alright to get angry. In fact, it's awesome that we get angry at all. If we are angry, that means that we are not apathetic about a situation! I think there is a place to get passionate and to have a desire for justice. But I also strongly believe that anger ought to leads us to do good, to seek solutions, to seek reconciliation, collaboration and dialouge with others. The purpose of getting angry doesn't have to be creation of more bitterness in our hearts. It doesn't have to bring us to attacking others or to further dehumanizing the person whose ideology we see as "the other".
I think such anger only brings a deeper divide, one that can get deeper and deeper and lead only to hopeless, paralysis and cynicism.
I think we can make a difference in the lives of those around us as well as larger society. We have the potential to help bring about justice. But, I don't believe that justice comes about by settling for ongoing figure pointing and long rants.
I want to see people who are curious about another point of view.
Not just an abstract point of view. But, yes: the point of view of the person who is opposing your own point of view.
I want to see people have the courage to LISTEN to the "other", because I believe that when we hold too tight to what we're angry about and we argue without listening, we miss out on opportunities to see how human "the other" is. We miss opportunities to reconcile and to let go what we can't or whom we can't reconcile to us. I believe that people have reasons why they think and feel and do the things we do, and I think they are worth learning about and sharing with others. People are so much more than their "isms". I have found that people, including myself, we have stories, and REAL reasons why they believe or embody their "ism", whether these are harmful or fruitful "isms".
I think we have to find enough self-control to sit still enough and imagine the voice of another side. There's a story behind the ideology of a person. There's a story behind the celebrity who annoys us or the people group that may disgust us. And I think that it takes MORE courage to surrender to that reality than to just stay angry all the time.
I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to this reaction trend of getting angry at and dismissing the one I disagree with. But I realize reacting isn't something I want to do anymore. It only makes me super pissy, with a lot of anger I don't know what to do with at times. In other words, it just leads to a bad night.
I want to see life get better. Don't you?
Tonight, instead of making a passive aggressive status-complaint on Twitter, I used my frustration to share my hopes and concerns with you, an invitation to become slower in reacting in anger and quicker to listen to other's stories. This requires vulnerability and courage from all parties, but if you are willing to take the road of justice, perhaps it is wise to put off the immediate reaction.
Let's listen more.
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What are your thoughts on anger and reacting? Do you ever get weary of passive-aggressive memes? Do you think the people and ideas that make your angry are worth investigating or learning more about?
