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Angry Talk ... (DRATS, Not even Barack Obama can save us now)
NRO ^ | January 2, 2007 | Stanley Kurtz

Posted on 01/02/2007 4:34:39 AM PST by IrishMike

So the Democrats won the election. Is there any less anger in our politics for that? Not as far as I can tell. To be sure, you’ll find some relief on the Left, and a bit of smugness as well (the latter stemming more from our troubles in Iraq than from the election itself). But are we back to sweetness and light, say, on the web? I don’t think so. That is exactly why Peter Wood’s new book, A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now scores a direct cultural hit. America has entered an enduring age of anger, and Peter Wood is the able (and unruffled) chronicler of that epoch. I doubt that even Barack Obama can save us from our anger now. That’s because the anger that lately pervades our politics is more than just an aftereffect of six years of Democratic setbacks (although the strikingly angry Democratic response to their six bad years does call for an explanation). Our political anger is only the most impressive expression of a much wider cultural transformation. In politics, in music, in sports, on the web, in our families, and in the relations between the sexes, American anger has come into its own. Wood says we’re living in an era of “New Anger,” and regardless of who becomes our next president, New Anger isn’t going away anytime soon.

Anger Old and New What exactly is New Anger? Let’s find out by first having a look at Old Anger. Before we lionized all those angry anti-heroes — from Jack Nicholson in the movies, to John McEnroe on the tennis court — Americans admired the strong silent type: slow to boil, reluctant to fight unless sorely provoked, and disinclined to show anger even then. Gary Cooper in Sargent York comes to mind.

(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: anger; congress; democrats; elections; infantile; senate
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To: Uncle Ike
in previous generations (and I have direct experience with my father, in my youth), true expressions of anger were rare, and by virtue of that rarity, a truly terrible, yet impressive, thing to see, nay, experience.

As Dryden said, "Beware the fury of a patient man."

-ccm

21 posted on 01/02/2007 5:49:26 AM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: IrishMike
I guess I will now be called a "Neo-Angriest".
22 posted on 01/02/2007 5:52:52 AM PST by oiler (Reagan Republicans Unite!!!!! Draft Fred Thompson in 08')
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To: Miss Marple

I call it rhythmic talking. Many times there is no poetry involved.

I laugh at the morons who say, "You don't like it because ou don't get it." No, the reason I don't like it is because I DO get it. It takes about two seconds to "get" it. It's about no talent hacks who are taking advantage of a pathetic cultural niche. If you take the concept any lower you're just talking to people. And add that to the fact that ANYBODY can rap. Old white guys, little old ladies, cartoon characters. Even Bart Simpson can rap -- and well.

Please, rap nazis. We DO get rap. That's why it sucks.


23 posted on 01/02/2007 5:54:13 AM PST by Lee'sGhost (Crom! Non-Sequitur = Pee Wee Herman.)
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To: IrishMike

I don't think the mouth is the location of the bee.


24 posted on 01/02/2007 5:55:40 AM PST by aruanan
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To: Miss Marple
3. In line with the above point, why are so many Freepers contemptuous of the President because he ISN'T displaying public anger?

It's not that he isn't displaying anger, it's that he won't do squat to defend himself against all the lies, slander, and distortion.

25 posted on 01/02/2007 5:56:18 AM PST by Fresh Wind (All we are sa-a-a-ying, is give Beast a chance.)
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To: Lee'sGhost
Well, the reason I didn't know there was no rhyming is because I can't understand the words in most of it. LOL!

I am reading the comments on Ford with this article in mind. It is amazing how many Freepers are angry at Ford, who has been out of the presidency for over 30 years!

26 posted on 01/02/2007 5:56:58 AM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Fresh Wind
How do you KNOW this? Because you don't see him on TV? Because you don't see anything in the newspapers?

Tony Snow does quite an admirable job of defending him every day in press briefings. The President does a pretty good job in his press conferences. I suppose you would like to see a knock-down drag-out between the President and the press on live TV. I don't think so, as President Bush believes in the dignity of the office. President Ford never castigated Chevy Chase, you know.

Why are you so ANGRY? Hmmmm?

27 posted on 01/02/2007 6:00:21 AM PST by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple

Is it New or Old Anger when I am angry on hearing the triumphant democrats calling for "more civility" when they are the ones who were not civil in their attacks and stonewalling?


28 posted on 01/02/2007 6:01:27 AM PST by Carolinamom (Thank God that Mary and Joseph were not pro-choicers.)
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To: IrishMike

Re: "Old Hickory." My Dad was like that. Slow to anger and rarely yelled at his kids.

I distinctly remember the ONE time he really yelled at me, long & hard, and the ONE time he gave me a swat when my smart mouth deserved it.

The left continually act like children, and that's never going to change. I think they secretly crave discipline and continue to act out, waiting for the smack-down that NEVER comes from the right.

Seems in politics today we have misbehaving brats on one side, and lax parents on the other. :(


29 posted on 01/02/2007 6:01:33 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Miss Marple

It seems to me that since pyschobabble has become so big, that anger is encouraged to be shown by victims. Since victims can't possible control their own lives/sarc, being a victim in society gives one leave to make themselves a raging idiot without any context of being civilized, rational, or having to accept consequences for any actions. That's why the bandwagon keeps on growing--people do not want to be accountable--step right up.


30 posted on 01/02/2007 6:02:15 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
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To: Carolinamom

What you are feeling is contempt for hypocrisy, and exasperation that the public doeson't see it.


31 posted on 01/02/2007 6:05:03 AM PST by Miss Marple
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To: freeangel

Agree about the psycho-babble. It is all part of the self-indulgence of our age.


32 posted on 01/02/2007 6:06:14 AM PST by Miss Marple
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To: pke
This article makes me very angry.

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore.

33 posted on 01/02/2007 6:08:13 AM PST by NeoCaveman (Conservatism hasn't been tried and found wanting, it has been found wanting to be tried.)
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To: Miss Marple
a better description would be: chanting
34 posted on 01/02/2007 6:09:26 AM PST by thinking
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To: IrishMike; Miss Marple; Chi-townChief

And I think, not just the unraveling of the family, but the removal of God from the public square.


35 posted on 01/02/2007 6:15:13 AM PST by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: IrishMike
Is there any less anger in our politics for that? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And this concerns many Americans. The anger is that Democrats MUST have power or ELSE?

OR ELSE WHAT? This dynamic created RINOs.

And it may create another Civil War in the USA.

Many liberal socialist Dems would support a coupe of a Republican Administration, rather than be left without electoral power. This has frightened pols like John McPain, who thinks that the dynamic will also create moderate Republicans who will vote for him.

I believe the opposite has happened, and that moderate republicans are increasingly polarized into the conservative camp. And its time for the RNC to catch up to its constituency, or they will have to get used to being a permanent opposition party to the liberal whackos who wish to subvert our consitution and our laws.

36 posted on 01/02/2007 6:16:15 AM PST by Candor7 (Into Liberal flatulance goes the best hope of the West, and who wants to be a smart feller?)
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To: Lee'sGhost

I think you are correct. I recently listened to a black stand-up comic - very good routine, nothing political - who bemoaned the loss of the talented black artists from yesteryear. Where are the Temps, Supremes, Stylistics, Chi-Lites, EW&F, Hank Ballard, Clyde McPhatter, Drifters, et al., of today? And - to me - it is not just black artists. I listen to some of the white artists of today and they sound terrible.


37 posted on 01/02/2007 6:21:12 AM PST by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: IrishMike

"Our political anger is only the most impressive expression of a much wider cultural transformation."

I would think that anger quite forcefully presented itself in our 1861-1865 Civil War, an era known for its genteel social mores and chivalrous Victorian manners. We have a way to go before we get that angry again.


38 posted on 01/02/2007 6:35:47 AM PST by sergeantdave (Consider that nearly half the people you pass on the street meet Lenin's definition of useful idiot)
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To: 7thson

7thson wrote:
"I think you are correct. I recently listened to a black stand-up comic - very good routine, nothing political - who bemoaned the loss of the talented black artists from yesteryear. Where are the Temps, Supremes, Stylistics, Chi-Lites, EW&F, Hank Ballard, Clyde McPhatter, Drifters, et al., of today? "

When you have more than one generation now that doesn't even know what singing is, it's not too likely that any great talents will be developed, there's no point of reference, no role models. Of course, almost everything in music is cyclical, and I keep hearing rumors of some great talents operating just below the radar screen.


39 posted on 01/02/2007 6:47:59 AM PST by smalltownslick
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To: smalltownslick

I think people ae a lot calmer than they were when I ws a girl growing up in la la land. Fist fights were frequent and expected when I taught in the 60's. When men weren't fighting, dogs were. I don't see much of that now.


40 posted on 01/02/2007 7:14:48 AM PST by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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