This country has become so angry.

[redstatebluegirl]

This morning I saw two people in their 50's almost get into a fist fight at breakfast in a small mom and pop restaurant. The topic, the death of 3 Muslim students in North Carolina. I did not hear all of it, but what I heard was Fox talking points, some from Rush and the other man trying to speak about how not all Muslim's are violent crazy people, any more than thinking all Christians burn abortion clinics and kill doctors. It did not take long for dishes to hit the floor and a couple of other men close by came in to calm the situation down.

It seems like all of us are on the edge all the time. Financial pressure, the way the world is at this moment when fueled by tv and radio nuts on both sides keep this country and others a spark away from explosion.

We have a violent past as a nation, the way African Americans were lynched and burned leading up to the civil rights movement, and since. The way Native Americans were treated and are treated. Violent reaction to things we don't like is not limited to Muslim countries.

These two men, looked like my Dad at that age, just normal guys out for breakfast. What a mess.

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Financial pressures are affecting more people

and making them angrier as they look for a cause for their misery.

Our news sources are all fear, all the time, with very little real information.

And now John Stewart is gone.

[Fred Sanders]

23. What is making folks fearful, then angry, is the fucking doom and gloom fear obssessed mass media.

[mountain grammy]

29. So true. While much of the news is bad, it's presented in a fearful fashion.

I don't know how to explain it, but I can listen to Bill Moyers give the same story as, say, Scott Pelley (and he's one of the not so bad ones) and from Bill I understand the facts and what's going on behind the facts in a rational manner. From Pelley, I hear the story, a few facts, little or no background, and it's fearbola time.

I know they do different kinds of shows, I get that. But I grew up with Walter Cronkite news shows that asked hard questions and demanded answers.

[Fred Sanders]

30. It is the military music and war imagery and endless loops of scary Muslims....what else did they expect?

And the murderer had been stalking them with a gun:

Father of Razan, 19, also killed with one bullet to the head...no words for my hate of the American media and their fearmongering, Fox I can not even say how I feel. Now all they want to cover is more war talk...while Americans are being slaughtered the same day due to their criminal negligence and complicity.

"This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far."

The victims are newlyweds Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, and his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Yusor's sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.All were involved in humanitarian aid programs.

Looks like CNN will give the story a few minutes after more War And Terror Talk.

[GoneFishin]

50. You are so right. There is a right leaning talk show on late in my area. And his topic always

accentuates violence by Arab and Muslim groups. The bumper music for his show at commercial breaks is dark, scary, ominous music. It is nauseating and transparent that his goal is to demonize these groups, and fuel right-wing paranoia.

[madinmaryland]

46. The Corporate New Media created by Rupert Murdoch, which everyone else has copied. nt

[hifiguy]

48. Reduce the resources available to a population

be it people or rats, and they start to turn on each other. This has been the New Fascist/tenth-percenter plan all along. And it is working better each day, as it has throughout history. The only winners are the New Fascists and tenth-percenters.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. WHODOYOUTHINKYOUARETELLINGMEI'MANGRY!!!1!1111!!???

NT. I mean, nt.

[closeupready]

3. Astute observation.

K&R

[TheNutcracker]

4. Perhaps due to NOTHING ever changing, due to being stuck in two party system run by corporations??

[cascadiance]

14. And the corporatists PROFIT from fostering this hate and division in the electorate...

... by encouraging division amongst the populace that they hurt more with their upwards wealth redistribution policies. If we didn't have that division being created, the masses would be more prone to unite against their true oppressors and get rid of the corporatists that are screwing everyone.

[jwirr]

5. We have been getting hate education since before the 80s starting with Jerry Falwell and his ilk.

And it is still going on.

[leveymg]

6. 5th rec - We're definitely on the edge of something.

Looks like another boots on the ground war in the Mideast/Persian Gulf.

[Newsjock]

7. 'Everyone' is angry

The 1%ers (OK, maybe the 5%ers) know they've won the war, and they're angry at all the little people who keep getting in their way.

At the bottom of the economic ladder, they know they've lost the war, and they're angry at the rich people who keep finding new ways to screw them over ... and at a system that makes meaningful change next to impossible.

And in the middle, they're angry because they know they're losing the war and there doesn't appear to be much they can do about it.

It's a powder keg, ready to explode at even the slightest provocation, real or perceived.

[el_bryanto]

8. The scary question is what are we waiting for to explode.

I really don't know - I try to be optimistic, and I think we've been through worse times than this as a nation and a world; but if people believe theirs no hope and are being subjected to these enormous pressures, something has to give.

Bryant

[Baitball Blogger]

9. So you can imagine how cray-cray it is in Florida,

where many of these older guys come to live after they retire. The only difference is, the further you get out from the city hub, the harder it will be to find someone who will stand up for the Muslims.

[n2doc]

10. Angry people don't think well

And they can be manipulated easily.

[alterfurz]

11. "Anger makes you stupid..."

...and
"Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results." — Margaret Atwood

[pampango]

12. Fear and emotion. Which party stokes the and benefits from them? Got to admit they are good at it.

Whether the fear and emotion is directed at Muslims, immigrants, African Americans, foreigners (Russians, Chinese, Mexicans, etc.), gays, etc., it serves to keep people reacting rather than thinking.

[LongTomH]

13. I've been saying that the right wing has 'weaponized' hatred!

It's part of the program since the Powell Memo: Rightwing think tanks, Reagan, Newt (Both Reagan and Newt played a part in making 'Liberal' a hate word!), the rise of Fox News and hate radio/TV (Rush, Beckerhead, et al).

The one hopeful thing in all this is that young people are turning off the hate mongers, and they don't really remember Ronnie.

[kairos12]

25. +1000

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. I've lost two LONG TIIME friends because of the bad economy.

Two people I had been friends with for forty years or more, I had to stop speaking to them because they kept borrowing money and not paying it back. I just got more depressed and decided I had to cut them off. The economy is not my fault.

[snooper2]

16. you didn't start recording and scream out "World Star!"

[Enrique]

17. glad to hear the one guy was defending Muslims

I have to give Obama a lot of credit for what he said recently. Much easier to pander to the haters. And I hate to say it, but Bush deserves some credit too. I still hear RWers grouse about how Bush said Islam is a religion of peace.

[valerief]

18. Anger wrought by oligarchs. nt

[Fred Sanders]

24. And their bought and sold mass media. And Fox. I am angry too, ever hear of it?

[BobbyBoring]

27. and it should be directed at them in the worst way.

[Blue_Tires]

19. Well, there's always been anger at one time or another

the deeper issue is why in our collective mindset do we as Americans believe bullets are a preferred solution to solving previously non-violent problem...

[jeff47]

20. No, we've always been that angry.

The Southern realignment created a temporary window of bipartisanship. That window is now closed, and we've returned to how we have always been.

You have to remember there was multiple shootings and beatings among our federal politicians. Not to mention a civil war.

[Fred Sanders]

31. Even if, that anger is being focused on a certain group, no?

[jeff47]

33. It's always focused on a certain group.

Those shootings and beatings (and civil war) were based on differences of opinions about certain groups and how they should be treated.

[Fred Sanders]

38. Not to be cute about it, but you are not making your point clearly.

Do you agree these three murders, the ones today, may well be a hate crime?

[jeff47]

39. It may be a hate crime. My point is hate crimes are not unusual in our history. (nt)

[Fred Sanders]

41. Now I understand completely, thanks. So let it be investigated as one, right? History can guide us.

[ChosenUnWisely]

21. Hope you are prepared for when the RW loses it.

Those who are not prepared will be in for a real surprise when reality smacks them in the face.

[haikugal]

44. Prepared as in unsurprised? nt

[99th_Monkey]

22. Good observations. K n R nt

[samplegirl]

26. Sad

I would be willing to bet that Fox news was on the restaurant t.v. I wish most à restaurants and offices would just leave news turned off.

[pansypoo53219]

28. fuxx gnewz should be bombed out of existence as the seditious pile of bullshit it is.

death by FCC. bring back the fairness doctrine.

[Fred Sanders]

32. Death by FCC for FOX, where is my pen?

Massive fines for CNN, stern warnings for the Big Three?

[Warpy]

34. They're squeezing us until we pop

and when we pop, they are not going to like the result.

[cui bono]

35. And that's exactly how TPTB like it.

Keep us fighting amongst ourselves. That's why politics as a team sport is played up so much in the media. Us vs Them mentality abounds.

[NOLALady]

36. IMHO, this country has always been angry.

I have not known a time in my lifetime when rage was not directed at people with heritage similar to mine.

[Skittles]

49. distressing

a heart for you NOLALady my sweet

[LanternWaste]

37. Quite often, anger, hatred and their concomitant passions are far more easily seen

Quite often, anger, hatred and their excited and animated passions are far more easily seen than the quiet kindnesses and humble loves which (I believe) surrounds us all so completely.

Much like the man with the megaphone, anger is heard as a particular, while kindness is seen little more than a window is seen-- yet I believe that kindness far, far outweighs hatred in our daily lives.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. But,...I just heard Obama say the state of the union is strong!

[bigwillq]

43. And I believe every word a politician says!

[lpbk2713]

42. It looks like some have reversed the Golden Rule.

They seem to think "do unto others before they do unto you".

[haikugal]

45. First rule of the neo-con... nt

[xfundy]

47. "both sides?"

I can think of a few "liberal" voices on tv and radio. Actually I can think of only a couple, none of which get the airtime Focks Noise gets, plus "religious" broadcasters, all of whom look for something to get outraged about and blame on "libruls."

[realFedUp]

51. Uh, did you live through the Bush presidency?

That was honest to goodness angry.