So much anger, so little reason in America today

Lots of anger out there.

Too much.

Can’t talk politics with some without it turning into a shouting match.

Can’t joke about someone’s background without them getting mad.

Not much humor left.

Used to be angry.

Lost temper with little or no provocation.

No more.

Getting mad solves nothing.

Anger escalates emotions and displaces reason.

So nothing is accomplished.

Look at Congress, which is something we do here at Capitol Hill Blue.

If pro is the opposite of con then Congress is the opposite of progress.

Look at sideshow atmosphere that has descended on too many public meetings.

Too much shouting, too much hyperbole, too little truth.

Why is everyone so mad?

What is the source of the anger?

Express an opinion today and odds are those who disagree with you will use words like “idiot” or “stupid” or something obscene.

Let even a millisecond lapse when the light turns green and the driver behind you will be leaning on the horn.

Nastiness is, sadly, now an ingrained part of society.

Watch Bill O’Reilly’s TV show — the top rated cable news talk show in prime time and count how many times he calls someone an “idiot” or tells them to “shut up!”

Attend a tea party meeting, as I did not long ago in my Blue Ridge mountain community and what you hear is unbridled anger.

At this meeting of the Floyd (VA) Tea Party, the group’s vice-chairman, Al Pearce, went on a tirade about about political correctness, especially the media’s use of the term “gay.”

“They’re homosexuals or queers, which is what they are,” he declared.

Joe Montague, another tea party activist who often appears at public hearings and meetings of the local board of supervisors, calls school teachers and other public employees “parasites.”

Virginia GOP activist Bobby May

Bobby May, a Virginia GOP activist fired a a regional coordinator for John McCain in 2008 after he wrote a racist diatribe about Barack Obama is still active in the Old Dominion’s Republican Party.

At an appearance in Roanoke by Mitt Romney last month, May hawked buttons with racist overtones along with bumper stickers that declared: “If they take away our guns, how can we shoot liberals?”

It might be funny is May were joking but those who know May best say he’s not.  One look at this stereotype of a Blue Ridge Mountain bubba and you know instantly that he just might shoot a lib or a black man.

When I encounter people like Al Pearce, Joe Montague or Bobby May I wonder where America is headed.

Why is everybody so mad?

Is it politics?

Is it life in general?

Is it a symptom of the times?

Is it inevitable?

Not sure what to do about it.

Can’t discuss anger management with most.

Pisses them off.

Can’t suggest moderation in an atmosphere of extremes.

Can’t promote reason in a sea of rowdiness.

I don’t know the answer.

I wish I did.

But I’m going to dwell upon it.

I might get mad.