I don't buy into the "Americans are angry" bullshit.

[JaneyVee]

Concerned? Sure. Furious? No.

Americans are hopeful, optimistic, proud.

Time to change the narrative on this whole "Americans are angry" bullshit, it will eat the heart, soul, and psyche of our Nation and leave a trail of its devoured corpse. America is what we project onto it, and unless we project optimism, cynicism will rot its core. Projecting anger and fear is a rightwing trait. If we project anger and fear, our citizens will project anger and fear. If we project hope and optimism, our citizens will project hope and optimism. Anger and fear will destroy America's psyche and our social fabric.

I honestly believe, despite the realization that America is far from perfect, and despite the realization we still have much more work to do, that we are actually living, collectively, in the happiest time in US history.

[CanonRay]

1. Some old white guys are angry

It you believe that's America, then America is angry

[JaneyVee]

2. Maybe they're angry because their leaders keep...

Telling them "Americans are angry!".

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. Wrong. They're angry because they're called racists for being angry.

They're angry because the "brand loyalty" and the "company loyalty" and the "union loyalty" they've been preached to about since they were ready to graduate from high school was tossed out the window by the very people who preached it to them.

They're angry because somewhere along the line the very people who preached to them for generations about "loyalty" suddenly flipped and told them if they weren't college educated, they weren't shit. They weren't college educated. They didn't prepare to send their KIDS to college.

Labor unions didn't protect this country like they promised they would.

You see it as white people vs the new reality. I see it as lies about what the future held.

[kcr]

14. I'm sorry, but racists are called racists for being racist

And shitting on unions isn't going to help workers, either. They get precious little support anymore as it is.

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. At some point the people slinging words like the ones you prefer need to analyze their motivation.

The simple reality of losing one's means of support and being angry about it doesn't fucking equate to racism. You use the word in the way movies portray machine guns like water hoses that wipe out the bad guys. Every person angry with the way their life situation has declined is a racist

[JaneyVee]

28. But you cant deny the racist element to alot of it either.

[Ghost Dog]

58. You mean, like frequent dissing of individuals & groups of people just for being

'old', 'white' and 'men' is a clear sign of endemic blatently obvious but widely sanctioned ageism, racism and sexism rolled into one, all three?

[JaneyVee]

63. Yeah, because old white men are surely oppressed in America.

[Ghost Dog]

68. Respectfully, I think you refer to racial discrimination rather than racism itself

(and the same distinction applies to ageism & sexism).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism
Full Definition of racism

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

2: racial prejudice or discrimination

In fact I would be of the opinion that all Americans outside a small cohort are indeed heavily oppressed.

[bettyellen]

65. Did you miss every night of the RNC where the blamed blacks and liberals for everything?

And any mention of equal rights or other issues for women and people of color was met with silence?

[Ghost Dog]

69. Thankfully, yes. I only streamed 3+ hours last night

of the 'official RNC' feed on vox.com...

The camera operators and editors had clearly been instructed to single out non'white' faces in the hall and definitely spent more time ogling women than men, I observed.

[bettyellen]

70. I watched last night w a lovely DUer that happens to be a dark skinned immigrant...

Last edited Fri Jul 22, 2016, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)

And although I have known her for years as an American and NYC seems be a safe haven, the speech last night was palpably more frightening and threatening for her than it was for me. Before that, I thought no one could feel worse about the horrible hateful rhetoric than I, but was reminded that for me as a white woman - it is a bit more abstract.

[Ghost Dog]

72. Oh, I'm definitely feeling much worse today.

[JaneyVee]

23. Pretty sure I didnt mention race.

And Im not saying people arent angry at certain aspects of their life and situation, Im saying America isnt angry as a Nation. America is hopeful, and our leaders and citizens should project that.

[uponit7771]

38. Or cause they're racist?! tia

[Squinch]

56. They're angry because all those loyalties did not save them from losing their unearned privilege.

Now they are only somewhat better off than women and people of color, not miles better off than women and people of color.

You have to forgive the rest of us if our sympathy for that is limited.

[B Calm]

42. My wife's 88 yr old aunt e-mail this morning.

I would have called you but it is 12:30 your
time and I expect your both in bed.  I went out and watered and got the car in the garage and I listened to the Republican Convention, I wanted to hear Trumps speech, he really makes
sense and how in the hell he is going to get everything done is going to surprise me if he does.
I'm in favor of a Wall between us and Mexico, the only thing they dig tunnels and hopefully he
has a solution for that.  And send the illegal immigrants back to Mexico where they belong. I
also am in favor of bring our companies back that are overseas and in Mexico.  The reason our
businesses are leaving is because they don't have to pay high taxes and can get labor so cheap.
snip.

[Her Sister]

60. Made in USA?

[GusBob]

3. Conservatives are full of anger and hate. Always ave been eom

[JaneyVee]

6. Because their rightwing leaders tell them to be.

What if instead they told them to be hopeful and optimistic?

[Hortensis]

53. There's that liberal positivism! :)

You're so right that good leadership could make a tremendous difference, but any leader who told conservatives they could be hopeful and optimistic without also promising to vanquish various commonly perceived threats they know are there wouldn't be leading these people.

They're just naturally more anxious and fearful than liberals and have a relatively darker view of human nature. This is huge politically. Some worry about changes that occur with time, some worry about people who are different, some worry about economic issues, but they all share a basic anxiety that things will go bad if they don't protect what they have from ever-present threats.

Btw, I absolutely believe their fear and distrust of government have been insidiously and extremely expensively cultivated over the past 40 years by "dark money" interests. Fear makes everyone more conservative. Trump's both a major symptom of what this occult plotting has brought our nation to and a wholly unintended result of backlash against very effective but amateurish manipulation of our mass psyche.

And, no, I certainly don't buy into their America's angry bullshit. That's just their alteration of the usual anti-government/anti-liberalism theme to try to regain control of their base.

[bonemachine]

4. I'm not sure I understand the context of the OP

But I'm willing to say that I'm angry. Furious, even... Also, exasperated and flabbergasted.

[JaneyVee]

8. Flabbergasted is understandable.

[BainsBane]

5. Polling shows whites tend to be more angry

Last edited Fri Jul 22, 2016, 06:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Because of the decline of their status vis a vis the rest of the population. We've seen a great deal of that this election season.

[uponit7771]

39. +1

[DemonGoddess]

48. +1000!

[Person 2713]

54. Sort of like the kid who always wants to be on top of the hill and has a tantrum if

any other kid wants a chance or even shares in a game Might even push the other kids down

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. Stock market at all time high.

People are sooooo pissed

[C_U_L8R]

9. The only ones angry

are those that already hate ...other religions, politics, sexuality, etc.
And their marginalization just makes them angrier... and louder.
We've just had a few days to study them on live tv. And it wasn't pretty.
And there are a lot of them... So we need to be extra vigilant in
defeating Trump and destroying his twisted ideology.

[sofa king]

12. You called it!

Around six years ago, I created a handy graphic about how evil people have "absorded" a certain demographic of Americans:

[elleng]

10. 'Americans are generally known for having a positive outlook on life,

but with the countdown for November's presidential election now well under way, polls show voters are angry. This may explain the success of non-mainstream candidates such as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders. But what is fuelling the frustration?

A CNN/ORC poll carried out in December 2015 suggests 69% of Americans are either "very angry" or "somewhat angry" about "the way things are going" in the US.

And the same proportion - 69% - are angry because the political system "seems to only be working for the insiders with money and power, like those on Wall Street or in Washington," according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from November.

Many people are not only angry, they are angrier than they were a year ago, according to an NBC/Esquire survey last month - particularly Republicans (61%) and white people (54%) but also 42% of Democrats, 43% of Latinos and 33% of African Americans.

Candidates have sensed the mood and are adopting the rhetoric. Donald Trump, who has arguably tapped into voters' frustration better than any other candidate, says he is "very, very angry" and will "gladly accept the mantle of anger" while rival Republican Ben Carson says he has encountered "many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch the American dream slipping away".

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders says: "I am angry and millions of Americans are angry," while Hillary Clinton says she "understands why people get angry".

Here are five reasons why some voters feel the American dream is in tatters.'>>>

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35406324

[JaneyVee]

25. Yet, there has never been a better time in US history to be alive.

[elleng]

29. 1. Economy

"The failure of the economy to deliver real progress to middle-class and working-class Americans over the past 15 years is the most fundamental source of public anger and disaffection in the US," says William Galston, an expert in governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank.
Although the country may have recovered from the recession - economic output has rebounded and unemployment rates have fallen from 10% in 2009 to 5% in 2015 - Americans are still feeling the pinch in their wallets. Household incomes have, generally speaking, been stagnant for 15 years. In 2014, the median household income was $53,657, according to the US Census Bureau - compared with $57,357 in 2007 and $57,843 in 1999 (adjusted for inflation). . .

3. Washington
When asked if they trust the government, 89% of Republicans and 72% of Democrats say "only sometimes" or "never", according to Pew Research. Six out of 10 Americans think the government has too much power, a survey by Gallup suggests, while the government has been named as the top problem in the US for two years in a row - above issues such as the economy, jobs and immigration, according to the organisation.
The gridlock on Capitol Hill and the perceived impotence of elected officials has led to resentment among 20 to 30% of voters, says polling expert Karlyn Bowman, from the American Enterprise Institute. "People see politicians fighting and things not getting done - plus the responsibilities of Congress have grown significantly since the 1970s and there is simply more to criticise. People feel more distant from their government and sour on it," she says.
William Galston thinks part of the appeal of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is down to frustration with what some see as a failing system. "So on the right you have someone who is running as a 'strong man', a Berlusconi and Putin, who will get things done, and on the left you have someone who is rejecting incrementalism and calling for a political revolution," he says.

4. America's place in the world
"For a country that is used to being on top of the world, the last 15 years haven't been great in terms of foreign policy. There's a feeling of having been at war since 9/11 that's never really gone away, a sense America doesn't know what it wants and that things aren't going our way," says Roberto Suro. The rise of China, the failure to defeat the Taliban and the slow progress in the fight against the so-called Islamic State group has contributed to the anxiety.
Americans are also more afraid of the prospect of terrorist attacks than at any time since 9/11, according to a New York Times/CBS poll. The American reaction to the San Bernardino shooting was different to the French reaction to the Paris attacks, says Galston. "Whereas the French rallied around the government, Americans rallied against it. There is an impression that the US government is failing in its most basic obligation to keep country and people safe."

5. Divided nation
Democrats and Republicans have become more ideologically polarised than ever. The typical (median), Republican is now more conservative in his or her core social, economic and political views than 94% of Democrats, compared with 70% in 1994, according to Pew Research. The median Democrat, meanwhile, is more liberal than 92% of Republicans, up from 64%.
The study also found that the share of Americans with a highly negative view of the opposing party has doubled, and that the animosity is so deep, many would be unhappy if a close relative married someone of a different political persuasion.
This polarisation makes reaching common ground on big issues such as immigration, healthcare and gun control more complicated. The deadlock is, in turn, angering another part of the electorate. "Despite this rise in polarisation in America, a large mass in the middle are pragmatic. They aren't totally disengaged, they don't want to see Washington gridlocked, but they roll their eyes at the nature of this discourse," says Paul Taylor. This group includes a lot of young people and tends to eschew party labels. "If they voted," he says, "they could play an important part of the election."

[JaneyVee]

64. All this proves is fearmongering works...

For example: terrified of terrorism? You have more of a chance of being struck by lightning 3x in a row than being a victim of a terrorist attack. So why are people terrified? Because people are unjustly telling them to be.

[Tal Vez]

11. Many of Trump's supporters are genuinely angry.

Some are outraged that we have a president who is not white. Some are bitter because they have failed in their personal lives and want to blame some external cause for their personal failures. In fact, the very same people who claimed for decades that no one should be dependent on government now believe that only a change in government leadership can save them from their misery.

[Thrill]

15. They're paying less at the pump than they ever thought

they would see again. there may be some anger, but not like Trump and his minions want you to think

[BaronChocula]

20. Pokemon right here!

I think (hope) we'll be hearing about gas prices next week at the Dem convention along with loads of other metrics incl. house starts, rising wages, record auto sales (2015), etc.

[mwooldri]

16. One word... "Brexit".

Let that be our warning here. Those who want to protest will vote Trump, and many will do so in the belief that there are enough sane people who would vote for Hillary. That their vote doesn't count.

Well... the UK got Brexit because of angry people. We ignore the angry people (yep its probably a whole bunch of old white men) at our peril. Or we get President Trump and a Federal Reserve filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If he can file bankruptcy for his companies four times, he can send us to ruin.

[RonniePudding]

21. I don't completely buy the comparison

The electorate that voted for the UK to leave is demographically different than ours. It's lillywhite.

Also the anger over immigration is different. Here it is viewed as a more of a general threat, hordes of Mexicans crossing the border illegally under the cover of night to steal low paying agricultural jobs and rape and kill. That's the way Trump frames it.

In the UK it's people from other EU countries moving to the UK to take well paying white collar jobs. In that sense it's much more personal to UK voters since those types of jobs are most common. Leave already had the working class, they won because they got professionals on their side.

[TubbersUK]

41. Sorry, but I think the Brexit comparison is valid

We had the general threat thing too, it was in many ways the defining feature of the debate. In our case it was Muslim refugees and Eastern Europeans who were going to eradicate our culture, endanger our safety and impoverish us.

UKIP and the right wing media were explicit about it, the Conservative Brexit campaign did the dog whistle thing.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/number-of-romanian-and-bulgarian-workers-in-uk-down-since-visa-restrictions-lifted-at-start-of-year-9367046.html

Also, professionals were actually the strongest Remain supporters. It was the blue collar workers who were keen to leave.

The AB social group (broadly speaking, professionals and managers) were the only social group among whom a majority voted to remain (57%). C1s divided fairly evenly; nearly two thirds of C2DEs (64%) voted to leave the EU.

http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2016/06/how-the-united-kingdom-voted-and-why/

The trope was that that eastern Europeans were competing for the jobs, housing and services of ordinary Brit families, while refugees would do all that plus threaten our security & culture.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3088541/Three-four-migrants-Eastern-Europe-filling-low-skill-jobs-roles-fruit-picking-evidence-mounts-cheap-labour-forcing-British-workers-pay.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2355208/Toll-mass-migration-UK-life-Half-Britons-suffer-strain-places-schools-police-NHS-housing.html
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2015/09/04/nigel-farage-we-can-t-risk-showing-compassion-to-muslim-refu

[auntpurl]

43. All of that is true, but the previous poster was also correct.

The UK didn't have the POC population to counter the white blue collar anger vote. The US does.

[TubbersUK]

45. Yes, that's a substantive difference

Last edited Fri Jul 22, 2016, 09:10 AM - Edit history (1)

ETA: let's hope that it's decisive.

[RonniePudding]

61. It's valid for people who don't understand the differences, I suppose

[ibegurpard]

17. Then you need to get out more

[JaneyVee]

26. I live in NYC.

[ibegurpard]

51. explains a lot

[bettyellen]

66. You should meet me and Pri to watch the DNC Monday!

[BaronChocula]

18. What we should do

is "malaise" Trump into defeat. Let's call this his Malaise Speech.

[Wounded Bear]

31. I was thinking that myself...

Trump has already chosen the dark side. If our guys promote the hope card, we'll be in like Flynn.

[auntpurl]

44. Trump voters have literally never seen the word malaise.

Of course, we'll never convert them anyway. We want the rest of the population. People who read books and can count without using their fingers and toes.

[oberliner]

22. White Republican Americans are angry

Did you see the faces in the crowd? The chants of "lock her up" ?

[nashville_brook]

24. America, show us your vision board!!

[ffr]

27. Biggest problem we face are Republicans in office

Without them, there wouldn't be half the crap we see on TV. They strive to drag this country down. They're the train wreck party. Built on making government not work. And they're good at it.

VOTE DEMOCRATIC and watch the tone we're told to see and think in the media change throughout.

With you JaneyVee 100%!

[Beartracks]

35. There is nothing wrong with government...

... that getting Republicans out of it won't fix.



=========================

[elmac]

30. I know some Americans that are extremely happy, giddy

the 1%. As for me, I'm not angry, I just don't believe in any system based on capitalism so I never get my hopes up, no matter who is president.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

32. Obama won with a positive campaign. Hillary can too. It's the best contrast with Trump. . . nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

33. Trump is still trying to win over the angry white male vote.

[Grey Lemercier]

57. That strategy is soon going down the demographic toilet. Good riddance.

[Beartracks]

34. I'd be angry, too, if my party had decayed to the point of nominating... Trump.

============

[stopbush]

36. Angry was always code for "I'm pissed a black guy is president."

Still is. Sad that so many Ds have bought into that narrative.

[uponit7771]

40. +1

[JaneQPublic]

59. Bingo! Where was this anger at the end of the GWBush years?

Back then, a huge number of jobs were being lost each month.

People were losing their homes.

Tax dollars were going to save Wall Street, only to learn that CEOs of failing firms were giving themselves outrageously huge bonuses.

American car companies were on the brink of going under.

Two wars were raging hot, so much so that Sunday talk shows ran lists of the weekly war dead.

The bloated corpses of American citizens floated unattended in the flood waters of New Orleans.

The stock market and the global economy were cratering.

But at that time, there was little more than tired resignation.

However, now that the economy has made huge improvements under Obama, with the exception of wage stagnation, angry white men are lighting their torches and grabbing their pitchforks because of how bad things are going for them.

The only logical explanation is, as you say, they're pissed about having a black guy in the White House.

[UnFettered]

37. The biggest cause of this is solely

Right wing media and talk radio. They pump out fear and misinformation at a mind blowing rate and volume. The misinformation spreads like wildfire in part thanks to social media via armys of stupid people. They now have a way to spread there stupidity and validate there stupid thinking on mass scale.

You would not believe the crap I hear people say on a daily basis. lol People are mad because they are made to believe anything from the left is a direct attack on them and there lives.

[Cosmocat]

46. Spot on its all about the D at 1600 Pa

Carter potus, the world sucks.
Reagen potus, MORNING IN AMERICA!
Clinton potus and our best economy in a half century, 8 years of unadulterated right wing hate.
Bush II potus, running the country into the ground, SUPPORT THE CIC!
Obama getting things turned around, 8 years of republican butt hurt because a D is living at 1600 PA.

[NCTraveler]

47. Trump is the angry one. Nt

[DemonGoddess]

49. I don't think Americans as a whole are angry

I think the anger is a last gasp, last ditch effort at shoring up the white male patriarchy.

[Johnny2X2X]

50. Yes!

By many many measures Americans are currently living in the best of American times. Sure there are problems, but by objective measures in so many areas of life things have improved. Too many to list.

[Scuba]

52. The Republicans have been running their campaigns on angry hate for decades.

Our side has been running mostly on fear of that angry hate. To wit ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028034414

[Person 2713]

55. Pollyanna checking in! Glad to hear you never get to see it and it's not directed at you must be

nice. This denial is what will help Trump

[jcgoldie]

62. Of course they are angry!

The president has been black for 8 years duhhh where have you been?!?

[Blue Idaho]

67. Good thing you missed the conversation I overheard

At my local Starbucks. Two open carry "enthusiasts" we're discussing how much fun it would be to feed Harry Reid into a wood chipper feet first. Yup there is hate out there in the lunatic fringe but it's our job to reject that insanity and work for reason and peace. That starts with the resounding defeat of that fire bomber Trump. At this point the destruction of the republican party should also be on our to do list.

[Music Man]

71. Good thread!

I think a measured statement is that Americans are anxious. Wages have remained the same for decades while the cost of living has gone up. We stress about rent, tuition, loans, phone bills, car payments, childcare, and medical bills. And when a person, for instance, leaves a doctor's office facing a bill that will takes a hit out of one's bank account, I truly don't think the emotion we feel is anger but anxiety.

Science has shown that when anxiety increases, empathy decreases. And as empathy decreases, humans have a propensity to enter into conservative thought. The brain goes into survival mode.

Trump and company take legitimate anxiety and translate it into fear, because it's a hell of a lot easier to say, "Mexicans are stealing our jobs" than objectively discuss the core patterns in economics. The anger is engineered, and besides being politically unhelpful, it's mentally unhealthy.