The Angry Left

During his very abbreviated speech at the Republican National Convention, Bush made a remark about the "angry left." I remember thinking, here we go, categorizing everybody with a particular political view with some negative generalization. Haven't we had enough division? Hasn't the response to Barack Obama's call for unity, for us to work together as a nation, demonstrated that we are tired of labels that divide us? Why does he assume we're all angry, just because we have a different point of view?

Yes, I was righteously indignated. But I've been thinking about it, and I have no right to be upset that he called us angry. Because the truth is, I am angry.

I am angry that in the past eight years, we have been lied to, we have had our patriotism called into question for practicing the freedoms that Bush says he's "defending," we have seen abuses of power go unchecked, and we have sent our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors to die in an unjust war with no clear purpose that has not made the world safer but more dangerous.

I am angry that, after watching almost 3,000 fellow Americans perish in the attacks of Sept. 11 and seeing our nation come together for a common cause, our "leaders" chose to take this extraordinary moment of unity and twist it into a tyrannical, oppressive government that labels all who voice dissention as "emboldening the terrorists." I am angry that "fighting the terrorists" became a license to do whatever we want to whoever we want with no questions asked.

I am angry that we stood by and let almost 2,000 more Americans die in the waters of Katrina. I am angry that we have lost our standing on the world stage as a nation that, while we didn't always make the right decisions, we tried to do what was right. Now we are a country that tortures, that imprisons people without giving them a fair trial, or even telling them what the charges are against them. We are a country that mocks citizens for expressing outrage against these atrocities, and we are a country of bystanders who have watched this all unfold and have done nothing.

Yes, I am angry. We should all be angry. So what really makes me indignant about Bush's statement is not that he called us angry--it is that he does not concede that we have a right to be angry.

Anger is often treated as a negative thing. I looked up quotes on anger and almost everything I found was about how anger will eat away at you or make you say things you regret. Often, that is true. I may get angry at the cable company for its bad service, but if I hold on to that anger, I certainly won't be a better person for it.

But sometimes anger is justified and even necessary, as is the case now. We need to be angry, and we need to channel that anger into action. There was only one quote about anger that I found which seemed to fit my line of thought tonight, but if fit perfectly:

"The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough."

--Bede Jarrett