Anger is a gift, pt. 1

Hello World.

I’ve been involved in politics blogging on-and-off for a long time. I helped to start one of the oldest progressive blogs in Texas, The Burnt Orange Report, when I was in college. I have made a few other brief forays into blogging, but mostly have been content to comment-troll (hopefully for better) at sites like LGM for quite a while. I also have a rather bad habit of spamming my friends, family and coworkers with political posts on social media (mostly hidden from the full view of the world by Facebook’s privacy settings, as wobbly as they are).

You may notice that I have named this blog after the clique of foul-mouthed Scots in Armando Iannucci’s “The Thick Of It” universe. In many ways, I find myself often tapping my inner Malcolm Tucker these days. Every time I pick up a newspaper or turn on the television, it seems like I want to start screaming obscenities.

Following the terrible shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon this week, I had a short discussion with my sister about the role of anger in politics. In my view, anger can be constructive if it is directed toward proper ends. In a sense, I’ve decided to start blogging again because I am angry, and I believe that my expressing my views in a public forum can help bring about positive change in the world.

My sister is correct that anger can do a lot of damage. Clearly, angry people like the UCC shooter are murdering innocent people. At a bigger level, I believe that some of the worst things that are happening in American politics today are being driven, or at least rationalized, by anger and resentment.

I hope that in my blogging, I can rise above the fray. Although I am not religious, I respect the wisdom of the Bible with regard to emotions and human relationships; and as Ephesians 4 commands: “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”