Outrage is all we’ve got
Impotence has left us with nothing but anger towards each other
There is no need to elaborate on the political tension that is in the air. The devolution of society into clear political camps which has decimated the political centre is something pundits have written about at length be it in the context of rising populism or the rise or ‘political correctness’ (PC) and PC culture.
These same pundits have been hard at work trying to determine why our societies have become political flashpoints. Some discuss the lack of faith in democracy. Others, how universities are being infiltrated by specific philosophies that are rotting peoples brains and creating victimhood complexes. Both these ‘schools of analysis’, if we can call them such, present our problems through the same lens, a social one. They will have us believe that the problem is other people, those who are racist, those who think they are oppressed, those who are uneducated, or those who are ‘overly’ educated and have lost touch with reality. The problem is others, and it is in changing or destroying the other that peace can be once again restored. Therefore how people behave, or rather, should behave, becomes the primary point of political discourse and ridicule the most valuable weapon.
Commodifying outrage
The truth of it though is that this ‘political divide’ is not as widespread as commentators make it seem. A majority of the population remains uninterested/detached from politics and their only interaction is cursory through narratives built on this ‘divide’.
This is not to say that a ‘divide’ doesn’t exist or is just a figment of our imagination. Obviously, shifts in political dominance have severe repercussions on certain individuals, but a majority of us are lucky enough to remain unimpacted. Even if we buy into the narrative of overarching cultural change, that our society is being radically transformed by undercurrents, the idea that we are going face censure or that men are going to be persecuted for their ‘manspreading’ is ridiculous. Nevertheless, this is the lens that politics is now being seen through.
With this, it’s easy to think that people are seeing the world this way because it is reflective of what is actually happening, but this cannot be further from the truth. It is the fact that this kind of popular politics creates ‘engagement’ that it has become the dominant form of ‘political engagement’. Even though most people going along with this narrative have no interest in party politics or policy. It’s this ease of which one can engage with this sort of popular politics that has helped present it as a legitimate mode of politics even though at the core it is no different than commentating on why a popular song or film is good or bad.
Outrage as a career
The ease with which people can engage with outrage politics has fueled the careers of many commentators. Some have been doing it for years, whereas as others are newer, younger, and more relevant. Some have no background in politics, while as others cling onto some loose qualification that gives them a foothold in the field and as such can carry themselves with a greater level of assurance.
What both those groups have in common is that they have all utilized the democratization of the media landscape to push their messages out there. This has helped push political identity into a major social marker — for if the world is really as divided as these personalities would like to make it seem you have no choice but to pick a side. It’s worth noting that it isn’t just fringe personalities that are benefiting from this sort of outrage politics, mainstream news outlets are utilizing these methods as well. Granted, their entire model does not purely rely on them.
One of the most confusing things about the use of outrage politics is that it presents those who utilize it as the ones on the ropes, the underdogs. It is them who have the courage to speak out and fight against a dominant current. However, when you look close enough, what they are arguing for is the maintenance of the current dominant forces. This completely undoes their embattled persona, especially when combined with the fact that their rhetoric is just that, empty words with no proposals. The danger in this is that instead of being the protectors they claim to be they become the ones speaking against any opinions that deviate from what they see as the norm, crushing plurality and with it democracy.
Grounding outrage
The ease in which we can engage with outrage politics is not the only thing that has provided it with the fertile soil it needs to grow. The political system itself has created the vacuum in which it has grown into.
Politics, we are told, is something that happens once every four years, or whenever an election cycle takes place. It is mostly a passive process of casting a ballot for the person who best represents your views. Even with this passivity not many of us bother to engage with the voting process, this is either because keeping up with the day to day activities of our elected representatives is too boring or because we rightfully don’t believe it will make that much of a difference.
Since this leaves us with no systematic way of dealing with our grievances, we have nothing else to turn to but each other. For if ‘politics’ itself is this alienated body, then how can we blame it? Add this to the fact that socialised pop politics has proved to be a gold mine for those pushing a narrative of outrage and we end up with a situation where legitimate suffering caused by political decisions becomes nothing but a way to gain clicks or subscribers.
