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As we wind down another unpredictable year in politics and life in general, it’s only natural that we look backward at what happened and forward to what we hope will come next.
My reflection takes me to a recent conference where we heard from Harvard professor and social scientist Arthur Brooks as our lunchtime keynote speaker. Brooks headed a conservative think tank for a decade, but I’ve long admired his approach to politics and people despite coming from the other side of the aisle.
He spoke at the conference about what he calls the “anger industrial complex,” a relatively small percentage of folks who are sucking up all the oxygen in the room trumpeting the loudest, most incendiary talking points at—and over the top of—one another. This often occurs on cable news and social media, giving the impression that the very vocal few are representative of the whole.
It warps the way we view the world and one another, making it nearly impossible to find common ground. But it’s not impossible. It just feels that way.
Looking back on another pandemic year during which we continued to perfect the art of arguing about literally everything, I’ve got three pieces of advice to combat the “anger industrial complex” moving forward.
Talk to people in real life
Turn off your television. Delete Twitter. Flee the metaverse. Resume talking to human beings in environments where you can actually talk to them, listen to them and learn from them. I know this might be more challenging depending on the next iterations of COVID, but I firmly believe things went from bad to worse during the pandemic because our social interactions were more limited to social-media interactions than real-life ones.
It’s way easier to be a jerk to someone online, whether you’ve met them or not, than it is to tell someone in person that you think they’re [insert insult here]. As the world continues to get back to normal, lean into those conversations many of us couldn’t have over the past two years.
Assume good intentions
This one predominantly applies to the interactions described in the prior advice, not to online engagements, but if you meet someone with whom you disagree, for heaven’s sake, ask more questions and try to find out where they’re coming from.
Far too often, we assume someone is attacking us personally when what they’re actually doing is sharing their own perspective. If we enter into a conversation ready to listen and share instead of defensively postured, we might be able to find more common ground. To quote a Luke Bryan song from a couple of years back, “I believe most people are good.”
Know when to move on
All that said, you’re not going to agree with everyone or even be able to understand why they believe the things they do, so you have to know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. If you’re getting more frustrated than getting anywhere fast, just say goodbye and move on down the road.
None of this is rocket science. It’s all common-sense advice we’d give to our kids. If we’re lucky, in the year to come, we can embrace it a little bit more and lessen the noise created by the loudest few.•
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Wagner is a lifelong Indianapolis resident and owner of Mass Ave Public Relations.
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Ms. Wagner characterizes herself as a “liberal” (NOT leftist) in the second sentence of the second paragraph … “Brooks headed a conservative think tank for a decade, but I’ve long admired his approach to politics and people despite coming from the other side of the aisle”. Regardless of her self-characterization, as a fiscal conservative and very occasional social liberal, I fully support and agree with her “three pieces of advice to combat the “anger industrial complex” moving forward”. In an age when “common sense” has devolved into “rocket science for the unequipped”, Ms. Wagner espouses pure, unadulterated, WISDOM! What great advice! Perhaps she should consider coming from a bit more of the conservative side of the aisle … like “Harvard professor and social scientist Arthur Brooks” … whom she has “long admired his approach to politics and people …”. Thank you for great advice Ms. Wagner.