Beware the Angry

Alright, this is an overgeneralization. And yes, Democrats weren't always this way, but now…
Person A is angry.
Person G is grateful.

Knowing nothing more about either of them, who is the Republican and who is the Democrat?

I do not think this a chicken-or-egg problem. I think the emotions come first, and politics follow. If persons A and G were 12 years old, I think I could accurately predict what political party they would eventually join.

How is this for a theory: John Fetterman was an angry Democrat. Then he had a near-death experience and survived. As a result, he became grateful for the blessings in (and of) his life. His lack of anger has not yet made him a Republican, but it has made him uncomfortable being a Democrat.

Angry people become addicted to anger. They seek reasons to be angry. The reasons need not be true. Debating truth and falsity with an angry person is threatening to them. They do not wish to be rid of a reason to be angry.

Grateful people dislike anger. It feels bad to them. When they are angry, they seek reasons not to be. They seek innocent explanations. To an outsider, it looks like G People are seeking an underlying truth, and they are, but they are hoping the truth will help them forgive and avoid anger.

G people prefer debates based on logic and facts. They enter debates ready to be persuaded. Being persuaded means the G person learned new knowledge, and that is a good thing. Angry people debate solely to enjoy the anger they get to express. They are unwilling to listen and learn. They don’t even want to win debates. They don’t want consensus—they want conflict.

Charles Krauthammer famously observed that Republicans think Democrats are stupid while Democrats think Republicans are evil. The above explains why that is true.

Herein lies our country’s biggest problem. When you try to tell an angry person to calm down, it only makes them angry. When you try to convince an angry person that their perception of reality is inaccurate, it only aggravates them. If you mock an angry person for any reason, it only infuriates. Even if you concede the argument and agree with the angry person, the resulting calmness is only temporary.

Angry people will angrily insist their anger is justified by the gross unfairness of life. They will accuse the G people of having gratitude conditioned solely on the fact that they are wealthy. Like most angry accusations, this one is at odds with reality. Though correct about life being unfair, they are misguided in deeming anger the only proper response. They are also wrong to inextricably link gratitude with wealth.

Angry people do not understand G people. Angry people think gratitude and ambition are incompatible. Angry people think G people are opposed to all change, even change that improves things. Angry people are oblivious to all the positive change brought about by G people.

For most of us, gratitude began in a church. Good luck trying to persuade an angry person to attend.

G-Pub