"Jeez Louise, what a sorehead"

July 15, 2009 3:23 PM

Tim Kreider muses on being judgmental and angry
posted by Blazecock Pileon (41 comments total)

This guy's just waking up from his post orgasmic-Bush-hate nap, and now he wants to apologize for splurting all over everyone.
posted by Faze at 3:38 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

God, this kind of shit really pisses me off.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:38 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

It sometimes seems as if most of the news consists of outrage porn

Amen. Sometimes I'll see someone reading the NY Post on the train and catch a glimpse at the stories. I really cannot think of a better turn of phrase to describe that drivel than outrage porn. It's not just them either, though I think they represent the worst of the lot that has some claim to a factual basis (no BatBoys here!)...

meh. I could rant about this all day, but he did a great job in that article. It sucks that outrage sells, but there you have it. Feeling self-righteous is a helluva drug.
posted by scrutiny at 3:39 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

Quick, somebody tell that joke about the difference between a liberal and a conservative. Because I think somebody just got mugged.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:40 PM on July 15

He should not feel such chagrin. For 8 years one needed to grab any anodyne available.
posted by Cranberry at 3:45 PM on July 15

This guy's just waking up from his post orgasmic-Bush-hate nap, and now he wants to apologize for splurting all over everyone.
posted by Faze at 3:38 PM on July 15

Yes, clearly you read the article, Faze, and doubtless took its message to heart.

"I felt the same helpless gut empathy for him that I used to feel, unwelcome and against my better judgment, for George Bush in those moments when he seemed to dimly apprehend that he was in way over his head. And it occurred to me that one reason we rush so quickly to the vulgar satisfactions of judgment, and love to revel in our righteous outrage, is that it spares us the impotent pain of empathy, and the harder, messier work of understanding."

wait no you are the same as you ever were
posted by Optimus Chyme at 3:51 PM on July 15 [5 favorites]

I'd like to read, say, Michael Savage's version of this column, but I seriously doubt he'd be capable of this sort of critical self-examination, and I wouldn't be able to read feces splattered all over a wall, anyway.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:00 PM on July 15 [2 favorites]

To be clear, for the benefit of those who did not read the article, Kreider is certainly not arguing that his anger about the Bush administration is misplaced.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:02 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

Ah, anger...the universe's one truly infinite source of energy. If only it could be harnessed...pretty much any typical message board could power New York City.
posted by you just lost the game at 4:22 PM on July 15 [2 favorites]

Fun Fact. Tim Krieder appeared to me in a dream so I gave him 50 bucks.

Let me explain.

It was recently, I was thinkin' about how much I missed the The Pain comics so I guess that was the seed for the dream. I dreamt he was hosting a talk about cartooning in the New Yorker offices and I was so jazzed to go ...until I was the only one there. And it was held in a broom closet. But no worries, Tim and I got on like gangbusters until a crack pipe fell out of his pocket. Ashamed, he ran away, leaving me with the crack pipe, right when the Cartoon Editor come around and started shouting at me for leaving piles of drug paraphernalia all over his office. It was hilarious. I can't remember ever having a *funny* dream before.

So I donated 50 bucks to him. I figure if the fucker is gonna be funny in my unconscious he'd deserves compensation.
posted by The Whelk at 4:36 PM on July 15 [11 favorites]

He needed to "mediate" to realize that feeling angry felt good?

...

OMG HOW DUMB CAN YOU GET!?!?!?!?!?
posted by delmoi at 4:39 PM on July 15

If you’re anything like me, you spend about 87 percent of your mental life winning imaginary arguments that are never actually going to take place.

I am apparently nothing like you, and I would advise my children and grandchildren not to be anything like you, either.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 5:09 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

I prefer to think of it as being an unstoppable argumentation machine in 87% of the multiverse.
posted by DU at 5:21 PM on July 15 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: "I am not immune to this stuff."
posted by blucevalo at 5:26 PM on July 15

Oh man, Slithy Tove, I was just about to post that quote and say, "Man, does this ever describe my whole day. And the day before that. And the day before that . . ."
posted by Countess Elena at 5:28 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

Optimus Chyme: "wait no you are the same as you ever were"

that is a bit harsh, this could be the thread that turns faze into an interesting and engaging ha ha no not really he's already gone never to return
posted by boo_radley at 5:38 PM on July 15 [2 favorites]

This is something that could only have been written and published after Bush was out of office. It would have been nice if he could have realized this middle of the national liberal hate orgy, rather than after he was spent. (Not to defend the right, which is equally guilty of rage-sturbation. And yes, I am suggesting that the right and left are morally equivalent in this.)
posted by Faze at 5:41 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

I read this:

he was also inappropriately grinning a rather disarmingly goofy grin, as if he mistakenly thought he was up for a Golden Globe

and thought, "it's time to derail this thread with trivia!"

"It's funny that some people have commented about the Somali pirate, Wali-i-Musi, who was captured and taken to U.S. court to be tried, and his smiling for the cameras and were confused if he were happy about his unfortunate situation. The truth is that it's a cultural misunderstanding. As Somalians, we learn as children that, no matter how rough life is, you smile. In other words, a smile comes in a form of charity, something you give. We don't think of it as a momentary expression. That's why you can watch the news or footage and seek kids in dire situations or a 6-year-old with an AK-47 and he will smile into the camera as a courtesy."
posted by Hoopo at 6:14 PM on July 15 [8 favorites]

Faze, you remind me of the Robot Santa from Futurama sometimes.

"Mobsters beating up shopkeeper for protection money... Very Naughty!"

"Shopkeeper not paying protection money... EXACTLY AS NAUGHTY!"
posted by Grimgrin at 6:15 PM on July 15 [12 favorites]

Slacktivist and David Brin on the same subject.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 7:11 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

He's absolutely correct, it is like a drug, this righteous outrage. I have been working on this myself, because like any addiction, it's a black hole into which you pour your energy, out of which comes nothing.
posted by Mister_A at 7:17 PM on July 15 [4 favorites]

This is why I reacted so strongly to the news when I began reading it in earnest in college, 'cause that's all it seemed to be, esp. among those in the D.C. press corps: people getting outraged and calling each other out over trivial, minor offenses. Who cares? I thought. There are much more important things to occupy ourselves with.

But outrage makes careers these days. And it's definitely a habituating drug—the more you read, the more it takes to create the same high. I can often tell when someone's been paying too much attention to the news just by his or her overall agitation level.

This is also (one of the reasons) why editorial cartoonists are difficult to date.
posted by limeonaire at 7:31 PM on July 15 [2 favorites]

Ah, found it—the (verily outraged) blog post I wrote on this subject back in 2003.
posted by limeonaire at 7:36 PM on July 15

A couple of years ago, while meditating, I learned something kind of embarrassing: anger feels good.

Fuck yes it does. I'm gonna go kick a puppy.

. . . maybe that's just crazy . . . I get angry and crazy mixed up alot.
posted by nola at 7:38 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

It would have been nice if he could have realized this middle of the national liberal hate orgy

Yeah, being angry at mass-murdering war criminals who are in charge of your country is terrible. Let's all chill out, smoke some killer bud, and go play with Trevor's new devil sticks!
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:44 PM on July 15 [4 favorites]

Yeah I don't really love the leftist point of view but Jesus, how the hell could you not be pissed off during the Bush years?
posted by nola at 7:56 PM on July 15

It would have been nice if he could have realized this middle of the national liberal hate orgy

I usually stay out of threads I post, but I don't think you could have possibly misinterpreted his essay any worse than you have so far. My goodness.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:33 PM on July 15 [2 favorites]

I actually think that the fact that we look back now and think "my god, how did I let myself get so angry?" is a real testament to W's abilities as a politician - and I don't say that sarcastically, surprisingly. His whole Atwater inspired shtick was to divide anyone who would listen into us vs. them camps, and to inspire everyone to feel victimized, and then to hope at the end of the day more people sided in his camp than in his opponents. There were a lot of things he couldn't do well at all, but he was pretty damn good at manipulating people's emotions to his benefit, and the fact that now that he's off the scene a lot of people's tension and frustration and excitement and fear are receding is a great sign of that.
posted by Kiablokirk at 9:35 PM on July 15 [3 favorites]

"I used to drive around every day ranting out loud at the genteel National Public Radio, snarling at Diane Rehm for fawning over Henry Kissinger...."

I snarl at Diane Rehm for taking ten minutes to finish a goddamn sentence. If I have to listen to her show while stuck behind a Sunday driver it's like a perfect storm of hate. This is why I usually stick to On Point and Car Talk.
posted by HumuloneRanger at 10:15 PM on July 15

...how the hell could you not be pissed off during the Bush years?

And tell me, how did your being pissed off hurt George Bush? He was absolutely impervious to your anger. It only hurt you, and damaged your soul. Isn't there some hippie mantra that asks you to recognize the difference between the things you can change and the things you can't change? All the time you were getting pissed off at George Bush, your local town, city or state politicians were probably misgoverning you and ripping you off like crazy -- but nobody pays attention to local polictics, where you actually may have some power to change things, because they're enjoying their impotent-but-risk-free rage at these distant national figures.
posted by Faze at 4:40 AM on July 16 [2 favorites]

Isn't there some hippie mantra that asks you to recognize the difference between the things you can change and the things you can't change?

Boy, I wish I lived in a world where only hippies recognized that elections change things.
posted by DU at 5:07 AM on July 16

Isn't there some hippie mantra that asks you to recognize the difference between the things you can change and the things you can't change?

Who you calling hippie?
posted by nola at 5:13 AM on July 16

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

I may have lost my faith in everything but chocolate and porn. I may have problems with people who recite the prayer in tobacco and coffee stained rooms on uncomfortable chairs. I may have trouble with the sentiment of the prayer itself. I'm still not completely dismissive of the sentiment.
posted by crataegus at 6:27 AM on July 16 [2 favorites]

Gee, somehow I managed to vote against George Bush without doing the rage thing. You just say, "Hm, this guy sucks. Guess I won't vote for him." Then get on with you life. If the Republicans (or the Democrats) make you hate, then the Republicans/Democrats/terrorists win.
posted by Faze at 6:30 AM on July 16

Isn't there some hippie mantra that asks you to recognize the difference between the things you can change and the things you can't change?

I wouldn't call Reinhold Neibuhr a hippie. (The Serenity Prayer).
posted by Diablevert at 6:40 AM on July 16

"Headline of the Week goes to the Daily Mail for the words above top lay climatologist Tom Utley's effort. "With These Idiots In Charge, I Feel Like Leaving The Country," it snappily ran. "But How On Earth Can I Find £465 For The Family's Passports?""
posted by mippy at 7:02 AM on July 16

Faze: Gee, somehow I managed to vote against George Bush without doing the rage thing. You just say, "Hm, this guy sucks. Guess I won't vote for him."

How many strangers have to die before you get angry, I wonder?

Is it really totally OK with you if a sitting President keeps killing people for no reason for the duration of his term, so long as you get to cast your single vote against him at the end?
posted by Western Infidels at 9:48 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

That's where the Serenity Prayer comes in, Western Infidels...
posted by Faze at 1:23 PM on July 16

> Yeah I don't really love the leftist point of view but Jesus, how the hell could
> you not be pissed off during the Bush years?

That doesn't explain the purple-faced frothing rage maintained, not by Rush and the dittoheads, but by such a large number of people on the left against Hillary Clinton, for Ghod's sake, for having the effrontery to run against their man Obama. Nor the equally purple-faced frothing rage against... Ralph Nader, no less. (If you're wondering, that would be the same Ralph Nader who has spent such a long and effective career supporting progressive causes and never sent a single soldier to Iraq or anywhere else, nor ever abridged anyone's constitutional rights by so much as a comma.)
posted by jfuller at 5:56 PM on July 16

All the time you were getting pissed off at George Bush, your local town, city or state politicians were probably misgoverning you and ripping you off like crazy -- but nobody pays attention to local polictics, where you actually may have some power to change things, because they're enjoying their impotent-but-risk-free rage at these distant national figures.

*thinks back to all the local elections she participated in over the past 8 years, and the political demonstrations she participated in concerning local politics*

Says You.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:28 AM on July 17

Nor the equally purple-faced frothing rage against... Ralph Nader, no less. (If you're wondering, that would be the same Ralph Nader who has spent such a long and effective career supporting progressive causes and never sent a single soldier to Iraq or anywhere else, nor ever abridged anyone's constitutional rights by so much as a comma.)

This would be the same Ralph Nader who told me that despite the Democrats' better record on many social issues dear to my heart, there was no difference between them and the Republicans back in 2000? The one who thought a Republican administration would be good for the country by way of screwing everything up and forcing a more liberal administration afterwards? I remember saying I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire after that, yeah.

I reserve something closer to frothing rage for the people who get into my face to insist that's still true now. If you want to say that on your pet issues, there's no difference, that's fine. If you want to say the Democrats aren't far enough to the left, that's fine. The former isn't mine to have an opinion about and people can disagree about the latter. But insisting there's no difference and not letting the subject drop is crankymaking. I wish my leftist/Naderite/socialist acquaintances would clue into the meaning of this and its meatspace equivalent and let it go.
posted by immlass at 11:01 AM on July 17