Rage as an Obstacle to Progress

How negativism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

By David Brooks
The Atlantic

"Cultural change tends to have a pendulum-style rhythm, and we are now at the dawn of another collective phase…

"This mode of collectivism embeds us in communities—but they’re not friendly communities; they’re angry ones…

"Political life is seen through a negative valence…marked by collective moments of group hate…

"During the McCarthy era, this mode of escalating indignation led to what the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr called “apoplectic rigidity,” an inability to see the world as it is, but rather only those nightmarish elements that justify the hatred and rage that are the source of your self-worth…

"Before long, apoplectic rigidity becomes the default mode of seeing things…

"As John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister note in their book The Power of Bad, if you interpret the world through the lens of collective trauma, you may become overwhelmed by self-perpetuating waves of fear, anger, and hate… When people around us are pessimistic, indignant, and rageful, we’re soon likely to become that way too…

"This does not lend itself to effective strategies for achieving social change… It happens when leaders can convey a plausible vision of the common good."

About Heart of a Nation

Empowering the next generation of American, Israeli, and Palestinian change-makers to embrace better, together.

אנחנו מכנסים הוגים מובילים, פעילים חברתיים, ומחוללי שינוי לעתיד, אמריקאים, ישראלים ופלסטינאים, המחויבים לשיפור החברות שלהם.

نحن أمريكيون وإسرائيليون وفلسطينيون نبني ونكوّن روابط من أجل التعلم والتفكير والمشاركة معًا حتى نشجع الحلول التقدمية بشأن القضايا التي تهمنا جميعًا.