There will always be something to be angry about!

[ginnyinWI]

My perspective: have recently stopped watching cable TV news. We went back to free TV and a Tivo and now my usual news includes BBC, PBS and a little network TV news. Last night I went online and watched a few segments of Keith and Rachael on MSNBC.com. I must say I was startled by the level of anger and I realized that it is always there on these and other cable shows. Whatever is happening, or not happening in the world, they are angry. If the administration is Republican, they are mad at that. If Democrat, then there are always Repubs in Congress or on the Supreme Court to be mad at. There are Tea Partiers to be mad at, and various right wing TV pundits to fall back on.

Wouldn't we be shocked to tune in some night and hear Keith not have anything to be angry about? To see Rachael not going off on the latest right wing idiot? It won't happen because that is exactly why people watch these shows. And it is also exactly why those on the right watch FOX. It's the flip side but it's the same game plan. Give the audience something to be mad about. Spin the news to extract the greatest amount of outrage.

This has gone on for as long as I have been paying close attention and it's getting worse. It's great to stay informed, but is it really productive to carry around so much anger? It can't be good for someone's health because it adds stress and gives a more negative outlook on the world. I know it's been very damaging to my parents who watch FOX all the time. But I think the outrage on the left can be just as harmful--and addicting. The main difference is that on the left we don't make things up. But we do exaggerate or at least hyperventilate a bit too much, at least in the media. We become what we consume. When I come to DU I see the effect it has on everyday progressives.

I am in no way saying that I'm happier to be ignorant of what is going on--I'm not ignorant. I still watch about two hours of news programming every day on TV, have the "NYT Latest News"(full length articles) coming in on my Kindle daily, as well as "Tapped", the blog from The American Prospect. I listen to POTUS on XM radio during the day, and "All Things Considered" from NPR in the late afternoon. The difference is that I'm no longer being exposed to the sort of knee-jerk outrage about everything that goes wrong. When I saw some of it yesterday I was struck by how extreme it seemed and how unproductive it all is--except for its ability to keep people tuning in for more and more and more. Anger feels empowering. Cable TV wanted to see more anger from President Obama over the oil spill--and that's very telling, isn't it? They were seemingly more concerned that he show emotion than that he get the problem fixed. To me that says it all. And he told Matt Lauer that he doesn't have time for "theater". I agree.