Anger has a bad name. Too often, we're now told being angry is unacceptable. That, though, is just the forces of power trying to impose control and order. In the world of growing injustice in which we live, being angry is absolutely essential if change is going to happen.
This is the audio version:
This is the transcript:
I am angry.
I think people know that I'm angry.
I think that I am angrier of late than I have been for some time, and I think there's good reason to be angry at this moment, and I'm not going to apologise for being.
Being angry is a normal part of the human condition, and one of the things that greatly worries me about the world in which we live is that we are told that it is no longer acceptable to be angry. It is acceptable to be angry. If we suppress our anger, we become depressed.
So, we should have the opportunity to be angry but not to oppress others whilst doing so.
And let me explain why I'm angry.
I'm angry with a country like the UK, which can deliberately oppress the vulnerable, as Labour is doing with regard to its changes to disability benefits.
I'm angry that this is just the end of a series of changes that Labour has already made since being in office, including removing the winter fuel allowance from so many vulnerable pensioners and reimposing the two-child cap on families so that so many children are consigned to poverty as a result of its deliberate decision to perpetuate the cruel Tory policy when the world expected better of the Labour Party.
I'm angry that Keir Starmer will not stand up and condemn Donald Trump for his neofascist behavior and for his aggression against Canada and Greenland and Panama, or for his support for Russia with regard to Ukraine.
I'm angry that there is a neofascist in charge of the USA who is dismantling its democracy in plain sight.
I'm angry that I know we only just about have democracy hanging on in the UK and that Labour is refusing to do anything about that by transforming our voting system so that we might have an electoral system that ensures that people are represented in Parliament by members who think broadly like they do so that there is a chance that every view will be represented, including, and I stress this very strongly, those are from the right wing if that is what people want.
I'm angry that we have the Bank of England is still keeping interest rates high in this country to impose upon people an unnecessary cost that results in the redistribution of massive amounts of wealth each year from those who are on low income and who are trying to provide for families to those who are wealthy and quite possibly in retirement.
I'm angry about so much, and I think I should be.
I am angry in particular that those on the supposed left, including the Labour Party, who are meant to come up with the answers to these problems and solve them, aren't doing so.
And this anger is focused on not just the Labour Party, but also on the other supposed parties of the left - the Greens, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, even - none of them is coming up with any form of radical policy to try to solve these problems, at all. They just shout, but there's no substance to what they have to say.
And that is also true of left-wing think tanks, where it's much more commonplace for issues around identity politics or green politics - neither of which I'm saying are irrelevant, but neither of which are also at the core of the problems that we face with regards to the basic meeting of need in our society, which have been ignored for far too long.
So, yes, I'm angry, and in the process, I'm probably not so good at suffering fools very gladly at present.
But then why would I be? Because there are so many fools in the world. And why would you want me to, in any case, be passive?
If I was passive, I wouldn't make these videos.
If I was passive, I wouldn't be seeking change.
If I was passive, I wouldn't be trying to disrupt things.
I like a quote from George Bernard Shaw, who was alive one over a hundred years ago now, and he once said - and the language is sexist, and I apologise about that, but only a bit because it was relevant at the time - he said “The reasonable man bends himself to the ways of the world. The unreasonable man tries to bend the ways of the world to those that he thinks appropriate. All progress is therefore dependent upon the existence of the unreasonable man”, and I believe he was right.
I believe being unreasonable is our task right now.
I believe that we have to challenge this hegemonic status quo that is oppressing people, that is denying us our rights, that is pushing us towards war, that is denying us the opportunities that we need to actually fulfill our potential and that is meaning that so many young people are feeling literally outside society because they can't see what society has to say to them, and I can see their point of view.
I can see that people are angry at having reminders put in front of them all day, every day of what they cannot have, which is what advertising is all about. I can see why people are angry.
And we could do something different. We could choose to put care at the epicentre of our politics.
We could put money aside and say, it is just a tool. We need it. We need to manage it. But it isn't what the economy is all about.
We could put full employment as our goal and make it full employment at a fair income.
We could redistribute income and wealth.
We could look at how our armed forces could be used to preserve peace and not to promote aggression, which would fundamentally rethink how we look at their use in the future.
We could just choose peace.
We could actually put in place the mechanisms to tackle those who create conflict and bring them to justice because that might be necessary.
We could choose the law.
We could choose the rule of law, and we could choose the right to democracy.
We could choose these things, but we don't.
Are you really surprised that I'm that angry? What else should I be, and what else should you be if you aren't angry? Why not? Because go think about it and come back when you are angry because that's what you need to be.
If this world is going to change, it won't change without you being as angry as I am.
So go out there, inform yourself and come back when you are really angry and want to demand the change so that we get the world that we really want.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
The anger is justified is all I can say.
One obvious note to be angry about is that this society used to believe in investing in things and people, because it was recognised that to not invest was itself more costly in the long run. Spend to save.
This Blue Labour administration is the epitome of the rejection of that – it has become the culmination of all the lies Margaret Hilda Thatcher brought to British politics. Blue Labour is indeed Thatcher’s finest creation, her crowning glory.
All this under investment will do is not only worsen infrastructure and people. It is an ideology designed to create the conditions to re-allocate resources and assets to the rich. So it will result in huge inequality and unfairness. It already has.
Even now, too many people are not angry enough about that.
The epiphany will be a long drawn out one, if we get one at all; and the epiphany to quote one philosopher/musician – will not be televised.
So, give me anger any day – the anger of knowing. I can wear it well. But some just can’t.
You reap what you sow.
Ian
‘You reap what you sow’.
Really?
Look at what we have reaped in giving Neo-liberalism the benefit of the doubt? In being judicious to greed dressed as freedom. By blindly allocating equality and equal rights to those already powerful through ‘egalitarianism’ that has only raised them higher than the rest of us.
Not much is it?
So I suppose your critique of Liberalism is correct?
Thank you Ian.
“I am angry.”
I’m not. I try to work on the principle of “don’t get mad – get even” (or words to that effect).
In the case of Shaw: the reasonable man asks permission for XYZ, the unreasonable man just does it. I have always favoured the latter.
I find what is happening around us a combo of amusing & sad. I don’t pretend to be the sharpest knife in the draw – but can you imagine being as deluded as the top bananas @ e.g. the BoE or Starmer & not even realising that you are, basically, a tool, formed/groomed to keep “the show on the road” & if you are somewhat self-aware & have an appreciation of what is going on – imagine the erosion of your self respect. On a more positive (?) note I leave you with this – which more or less describes my personal path:
Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It is seeing through the facade of pretence. It is the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.
Adyashanti.
Mike
You are right of course but I’d put it differently.
The only comfort that can be found is in the absurdity of it all – Samuel Beckett type absurdity – the ability to see and bear stupidity, greed, short sightedness and laugh and poke fun at it. Some of our best comedians/ comediennes have made a us laugh, laughing at authoritarianism and stupidity.
However, that can also lead to accusations of not being serious enough about matters – as you yourself have found out. Humour is a shield against despair as much as anger is. It is as valid here as on the Western Front circa 1914-1918 etc.
So, being all for anger, I also say that I am also all for humour. The two should be welcome here and not mutually exclusive is my view FWIW. I always enjoy your posts – they are rather unique.
[…] have admitted to being angry this morning. I listed a long list of reasons for being […]
Good morning Richard,
I share your anger it is well placed. Anger is a great motivator if channelled and shaped in a meaningful way. Can I please suggest the following Facebook group which I think is showing true resistance to the situation they are living under with the Trump administration.
Alt National Park Service has as its mission to be “the official ‘resistance’ team of the US National Park Service. It was established in 2017 to resist Trump and his anti-enviromental and anti-democratic agenda.
I think many on here will find it useful in understanding the Trump effect on US citizens, in real time, they have built the site and grown a 3 million + support network on a “foundation of integrity and courage…..,”.
They are the beating heart of resistance.
Thanks
Noted
Alt National Parks:
We Are #ALTGOV: Social Media Resistance from the Inside Paperback – 7 May 2024
by Amanda Sturgill (Author)
May I just add a note, this book is about the movement, the fb page is the movement operating in real time. It has many insights, updates and cooperative actions.
Geoff
Thanks. However, I found the book an interesting read as it gave me an insight into the width and breadth of the movement.
Anger needs to be focused to be effective. Emotion has to be guided by thought. I would include principles too. We need all three and they need to work together. You work has that and is why we follow you.
I was a funeral yesterday of a former Samaritan colleague. It was a happy affair. We reflected on the unknown and unmeasured good she had done with often anonymous people as well as the things we knew about.
We do what we can and live in hope. Like Martin Luther King we can see the promised land and we, as individuals might not get there. I am 80 next year but we never know when we have to exit. My contribution is going to be limited but there are many others who think as you do. You are not alone. Take courage.
Thanks
My anger is towards the BBC- pretending to be a public service broadcaster with editorial guidelines to ‘inform’ ‘enlighten’ ‘speak truth to power’, while actually colluding with corruption, by never asking the innocent journalistic question – to Streeting ‘ is there any conflict of interest between you receiving money from private healthcare interests and your eagerness to involve private healthcare in the NHS’.
There is no mystery about Labour – its pretty well out in the open – they have been bought and sold by oil/gas, private healthcare, gambling, big pharma, big food. They were happy to get rid of their annoying members and their subscriptions. So it should be no surprise what they are doing now – except maybe they could have been less stupid – by not having a ridiculous fiscal rule which will make even some of their sponsors worse off.
I will send a message to my MP – obviously to no avail. I am still a member of Labour.
I share your anger, but there are two groups that I am, in particular, angry about. So, a few moments of ire to vent my own personal feelings, because at present, in this world, all it can be is personal.
The first is the media in general and the broadcast media in particular. I still believe that Lord Reith was correct in saying (slightly adapted) that the the whole media are there to “inform, educate, and entertain”. However, they support the neo-liberal trope to the detriment of all. They have their pet ‘experts’ on various topics that they use to support their utterances. Mostly, it’s not worth listening/watching or reading.
The second is most of academia who teach economics and related topics, in particular. They propagate what I see as a cancer. Once students graduate, they have invested far to much time and money for most to be able pursue an independent line of thought. There are, and have been, a few bright spots. Sadly, so far, they haven’t taken over the academic pond.
Where has independent and original thinking gone?
Is critical thinking now, and forever, forbidden?
Is success to be awarded only to those who conform?
It would be great to see a change, a change that resulted in a growing and successful challenge to the neo-liberalism that has infected our society and is now, in my view killing it.
I would say that change is needed, and passivity is unvirtuous. But while I agree with the action required, and that change is crucial, I don’t agree that I need to be angry, nor do I believe anger is necessary for action. In this, I try to follow the path taught by the stoics who acted from a sense of duty to society to do what is right, but viewed as anger as contrary to goodness and a form of self-harm (and likely to hurt others). On this point, I’d recommend Seneca’s ‘on anger’. And on action without anger but from a sense of justice and duty, I frequently reflect on the choice taken by Helvidius Priscus (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0237%3Atext%3Ddisc%3Abook%3D1) and the stoic opposition in general.
I must be a lesser being.
Or maybe you are expressing white male privilege.
99% of us get angry. I think it meets a basic human need. It tells us that we know that something is very wrong.
I think your anger is born out of love. Love is a greater force for change than anger, and that’s not white male privilege speaking, is it? Peace be with you.
On anger. I am by no means justifying the violence that some perpetrated, nor the outright racism some displayed, but as I watched the riots earlier in the year I remember thinking that the anger on display was completely understandable. Misdirected, but understandable. All those people knew that their lives were not getting better, were often getting worse, and that the government did not care about them. They knew that the social contract had been broken and that they should be angry. The talent of Farage, and people like him, is in directing legitimate anger toward illegitimate targets. Those of us who know better should do all we can to direct the anger where it needs to go. Many of the people who went out to support those riots were likely neither violent nor particularly racist, just angry. If they could be rallied toward the cause of tackling inequality, which is neither a Left nor Right issue, we could finally get somewhere.
Anger in a Red or Republican state.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/18/politics/video/mike-flood-townhall-cancer-digvid
Notice his justification at the end. “How can you not believe in a balanced budget?”
The power of an out of date, exploded paradigm!
I was reminded of Keynes saying that many who considered themselves hard headed businessmen were often the devotees of some long dead scribbler.
And even more of the American William Jennings Bryant deploring the power of gold standard –
“You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
We could do with more of that sort of politician today.
Add to the anger list that we should not be beasts of burden with the sole objective of ‘getting people into work”. Our free time is the most valuable possession we have. Automation, IT systems and now AI are benefitting the wealthy as ordinary people are being made redundant and benefits are reduced.
Reduce working hours without reducing pay. Set up a government sponsored labour force with good pay until people find the “right” job. Get companies to publish price increase graphs by product in their annual accounts. (No reference here to the ridiculous inflation adjusted reporting of the past).
Paul Button
My coping method of rage (that’s what I call it, rather than anger) is to do a silent scream and as soon as possible read one of my 20,000 books.
🙂
My partner and I are also angry. Angry for the impact inequality is having on us, but mostly for our children. We are getting the message across to family, friends, most importantly our children. I asked my 14 year old what he thought about the welfare cuts whilst we were watching Novara Media, I didn’t know what to expect, but he told me that in their RME class they were discussing the NHS and he said’ I thought why don’t they just stop taxing the poor and add more taxes to the rich’!!! There we have it! Next week I’ll be taking him to meet Rachel Reeves.
We have to engage young people
I see your anger and feel it deeply myself to the point I am having to protect my mental health I’m having to switch off. But as I frequently do I was pondering this matter in a supermarket where I work this morning ( oh how much I hate it).
I got walked into three times by people not even aware of there surroundings. I got asked over 29 times for objects within eyesight eg where’s the coleslaw, it’s behind you (literally true.) I watched parents with children screaming for simple attention, a basic awnser to there child spoken question. People hurried and scurried, got what they wanted a moved quickly on. Most dumping paper first thing into there basket with the latest lies splashed on the front cover. Adding processed food after processed food as that all they can afford or bother to cook. I am autistic people watching is a long honed skill and I can notice mood and empathy and it was like a mortuary, even the staff were the same meek and quite after being betrayed once again for not working fast enough, not doing x y or a pedantic thing incorrectly that is apparently inextricably important to the manager. And the manager looking harassed and worn down. In this moment I saw the connections people are two sheep, to fed up, numb, wound up like bees ready to burst. No time for there children to focused are they on acquiring food at a price they can afford too wound up in there little minds and just end up snapping at the children. The papers that they buy spreads fear discontent and lies. I think as a society we are numb, dislocociated separated harassed stressed and to the point of breaking if not broken. Like a soilder they have been broken, mailable, controllable. Follow orders without question, comform to life as they are told to aspire too, allow governments to lie and cheat it’s fine it’s normal. It’s conditioning, started by torries finished off by labour. A creeping normality that has got to this point right here that is a crossroads for our society. We are too weak too feeble, too downtrodden, too poor and too stressed , fueled by ultra processed food. Sheeple are far easier to control and that is what the majority have become, it is the ones who have broken from the sheeple mould, they are the ones that see above the tsunami of commercialism, see beyond the lies the bullcrap and are getting angry. Unfortunately the sheeple out way at the moment, as you say we need to fight, I sure am.
Why, does not Keir Starmmer speak of Gaza ? It is by far the elephants body in the room. David Lammy should not be a question, but a real chance of dialogue. Keir???