Saturday, March 24, 2007

George F. Will - Anger Is All The Rage - washingtonpost.com

George F. Will - Anger Is All The Rage - washingtonpost.com: "Wood, an anthropologist and author of 'A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now,' says the new anger 'often has the look-at-me character of performance art.' His book is a convincing, hence depressing, explanation of 'anger chic' -- of why anger has become an all-purpose emotional stance. It has achieved prestige and become 'a credential for group membership.' As a result, 'Americans have been flattening their emotional range into an angry monotone.'

Wood notes that there is a 'vagueness and elasticity of the grievances' that supposedly justify today's almost exuberant anger. And anger is more pervasive than merely political grievances would explain. Today's anger is a coping device for everyday life. It also is the defining attribute of an increasingly common personality type: the person who 'unless he is angry, feels he is nothing at all.'"