I'm just finishing reading the December 19-26 issue of The Nation magazine, in particular the book review A Righteous Fury by Amia Srinivasan, that has me thinking/reflecting on the many times I and others of my political persuasion have been accused of hating one Republican politician or another, most recently, of course, the narcissist-in-cheif, Donald Trump.
The book Srinivasan reviews is Anger and Forgiveness by Martha C. Nussbaum in which, according to Srinivasan (I've not read the book and doubt I shall), Nussbaum argues that anger is counterproductive in its consequences and “also a bad thing in itself, an immoral and incoherent way of responding to the world.” Srinivasan disagrees with Nussbaum and the strain of liberalism that adheres to it, pointing out multiple aspects of anger that should be considered as both useful and necessary.
I'm in agreement with Srinivasan and want to take it a bit further. First, on-going political engagement requires motivation. That motivation can come from a variety of places, a desire for power (and money), narcissism, a desire to help people, and anger about how things are, among them. I expect it's most of these for me (sans money, not so much power) and I'm quite sure that righteous anger is frequently bubbling over as I take to Facebook to post the latest outrage I've read, whether in The Nation, on FB, or, most likely here at Daily Kos.
In the comments of my FB posts, sooner or later, the “why do you hate so-and-so...” entry pops up. My response, just as invariably, is an explanation that I don't hate the person perpetrating the outrage I've posted about, hell, I'm very unlikely to have ever met or to ever meet the political (sometimes also criminal) offender, how could I hate them? What I hate are the actions being taken and the resulting damage to America/people/the environment/the economy.... It is exactly my righteous anger that has me posting in the first place, but it sure seems to be a projection of my right-leaning FB friend(s) that this anger must somehow be commingled with hate.
Hate and anger are, to me at least, not at all one and the same, related, but loosely at best. I have a hard time conjuring up anyone I truly hate. I have no problem recalling the many things that have been done to me over my now 60 years on Earth (damn I'm old) that I hate, but precious few people I can say I actually hate. There's a guy I reported to for a few months who was particularly despicable in his behavior towards the people on our team, driving some to tears, others to illness and many to transfer or leave the company, who comes to mind as a possibility. While arguably deserving of being hated, and I most certainly hated having to talk to him on the phone, let alone meet in person, I'm still not sure I hated him at the time, and harder still to say I hate him today. I sure hated the things he did, no doubt about that.
So no, I don't hate Trump, but I very much hate his appointing people apparently ready and willing to do so many damaging things to so many people and to the world. I definitely hate the reckless indifference he displays as he launches profoundly irresponsible 140 character tweets into the world, but I don't hate the man, though I admit I'm not much for having to look at his double comb-over (what degree of ego insecurity drives that?) or listen to the generally incoherent string of words he spits out. (I couldn't listen to Palin or GWB either, I’m such a liberal elitist....)
My righteous indignation and anger certainly flares as I read Bill McKibben's Jonathan Schell Memorial Lecture on the Fate of the Earth entitled How the Active Many Can Overcome the Ruthless Few, and Seth Freed Wessler's Donald Trump’s Looming Mass Criminalization in my copy of The Nation.
That indignation does not drive me to hate, but it does motivate me to head back to Facebook to do battle yet again with the acceptance of things that are not true as justification for things that will result in the exact opposite of what is claimed. And it will ensure that I slog through the 40-50 e-mails arriving daily in my in-box from MoveOn, DFA, PCCC, EDF, Sierra Club, ACLU, Keystone Progress, EPI, Food & Water Watch, Credo, and a dozen others I can't recall at the moment (did I mention I just turned 60?), to sign petitions, send letters to my Senators and Congressman (now that I have one again – my previous Congresscritter is headed to the federal pen for a good while...) and keep abreast of whatever I don't already know about from our friendly DKos front pagers.
So no, I most definitely don't believe we should set aside our righteous anger. To the contrary, we need to harness that anger, shape it, and channel it into productive action. We also need to cultivate it in our Democratic (and a precious few Senate Republican) elected officials and help them shape it and channel it into the principled obstruction of Trump and his clown car of profoundly elite cronies we need to prevent a complete meltdown of pretty much everything we believe in and know to be effective in addressing the profound inequity, injustice and cruelty perpetrated on so many of us.
Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas for those inclined to celebrate either or both and a happy and healthy New Year filled with righteous anger and principled obstruction to all.
