Love, Fear And Anger
By Allen Wilson
Three emotions experienced by humans that result in an abandonment of reason and logic and cause us to resort to an instinctive reaction to our circumstances. Of those three, Love and Fear can manifest themselves as both passive and aggressive. Anger is different. It is said that anger blows out the lamp of the mind. It does not elicit recollection of past lessons and feelings or wishes for a better future. It simply disconnects ones rational human behavior from their feral instincts and universally results in aggression. Anger is also a catalyst which when coupled with love or fear drives them to the aggressive side.
The mood of a nation can experience these emotions as well, and when anger is the strong undercurrent of that mood small sparks can cause big fires. Like choosing sides in a schoolyard game, Americans have been forming a clear and deep division in their philosophy of society. This isn’t new, but there is a new aspect to the phenomena. Typically the division occurs at the margins and does not take root in the center. The average citizen may show interest but is seldom swept up in the passion of the fringe elements.
Today the divide in American Society is well formed. It is clearly identifiable. What is most concerning is that it is being embraced on both sides of issues by the middle masses that seldom take sides. Each individual has their own motivation. Some love what their beliefs represent, some fear the other’s beliefs. Regardless of the motivating factors all feel compelled to embrace one or the other. Few believe it is in their best interest to abstain from making a choice.
This societal condition is not new, it has only occurred twice before in our country’s history. Each of those occasions led to violence and in each case the violence was brother to brother. Some would suggest the Revolutionary War was fought between the Colonies and Britain. In fact it was waged between British subjects in the colonies, those loyal to the Crown’s version of rights and those loyal to their own definition rights and liberties.
No one would argue that the Civil War was brother on brother though many argue what the cause was. If we were to reduce the conflict to a single cause it must be the cause of human rights and liberties. In this the precipitating factors were much the same although the transgressions may have been somewhat different.
One might suggest that the civil rights movement of the 60’s was also such a case, where society chose sides, and they would be near the mark but not fully on it. In the case of the civil rights movement of the 60’s the nation was predominantly on the same side of the issue, disagreement centered on resolution and method.
And so we come to today. The divide in the country is palpable. You can hear in every tavern and roadhouse, every church and every town square. It is becoming more and more difficult to find the neutral opinion of someone willing to say they will wait and see. It is driven by love of one belief and fear of the other. It is sometimes aggressive but so far mostly passive. Anger is simmering below the surface threatening to boil up if reason fails to surface. The reason we should all pay attention is what is central to the debate. As it was twice before the division is the fundamental issue of rights and liberty.
As I finished this article I was left with the unsettling feeling that though I was done writing, it was not finished. There will be another chapter. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong or even if there is a right and wrong. It only matters that each side can clearly see who is with them and who is against them. At that point we will be on the razors edge and falling off will be no better than sliding down the edge. We can only avoid pain by staying in one place and that, of course, is not possible.
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