The level of anger within society seems to be constantly rising and we don’t seem to have any real concerns, or if we do, any way of inquiring into it, much less finding a solution.
In the Toronto area, seemingly random shootings and other acts of violence no longer surprise us, unless they are particularly extreme or someone famous is involved. We’ve had a couple of those recently – the Ontario ex-Attorney General killing the bicycle courier gone amok; the bus passenger torching an expensive hybrid bus at Yonge and Bloor because someone wouldn’t give him a cigarette.

In the USA, from which we increasingly seem to take our lead, partisan politics has become particularly nasty, with some people openly depicting President Obama in an insulting racist manner. Town hall meetings are packed by people who are there just to shout down the speakers; Americans are taking to the street for the first time in a long time. The reason? Improved, possibly government-backed health care for the ordinary person!! It is interesting that George W. Bush faced no such reaction when he took America into two wars, using (as has been proven and at the time was being questioned) misleading or false “facts”. He even escaped censure for using torture… which incidentally enmeshed individual Canadians and the Canadian government. Many lives were needlessly lost, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. No one complained then (or now) about America’s federal military budget, which is larger than health care.

In Canada, Stephen Harper bases his (so far successful) political tactics on the aggressive (sold as “committed” or “passionate”), hard-nosed, Bush-Cheney style and he also takes his policies from them – especially the no government/ no regulation part. Despite this stance, however, Harper obviously loves the power that comes with government and has shown no reluctance to spend money on his favourite projects and to throw fat consulting contracts and jobs to his supporters.

What can be done? We need much more compassion and cooperation all around, but way before that, we need to listen to each other with open hearts and open minds. We need to find some deeper meaning and fulfillment in our personal lives… otherwise we just get frustrated and angry, taking it out on the nearest person. Sounds simplistic, but that is what commonly happens to even the most educated, privileged and sophisticated.

Unfortunately, we seem to be moving in the other direction, partly driven by technology and the media. Technology is a tool, but is not completely neutral, since it has definite characteristics, which include complexity. The internet, for example, has both positive and negative aspects. Among the positive is the ability for the downtrodden to broadcast their plight and for people to network and share information. On the negative side, you have hackers, (child) porn sites, identity theft etc. In terms of news and even politics, people are encouraged to give their opinions immediately, but what are these opinions worth if there is no introspection or if they are relatively uninformed i.e. people are just spewing out their unexamined biases… republican vs democrat, Christian vs Muslim etc. If there is too much information or if there is no information, in the end, the result will be the same. People will just go with what they already feel, albeit unexamined.

Especially since Bush-Cheney, there are signs that in American (and possibly Canadian) politics, an aggressive, partisan, even lying approach is effective. This is a complex issue, but here are just a few reasons why this is happening.

1. On national TV, most programs invite the two opposing sides to state their case. If one side is more aggressive, sensational and deceptive, then they tend not to get penalized for their behaviour because the “2-sides” format subconsciously suggests parity and also it is easy for the “nastier” side to find some small, even isolated example to “prove” that the other side does the same thing. A classic example of this 2-sides effect was the issue of Global Warming. The vast majority of scientists accepted global warming as a fact, but polls showed that the average person thought that scientists were evenly divided in their opinions. Another continuing example is Fox news, which routinely spews lies and invective with no real backlash or consequence whatsoever.

2. The Republicans started deliberately manipulating public opinion, consciously employing specious and illogical arguments and appealing to emotion rather than logic. One of their chief strategists and consultants during Bush-Cheney and up to the present is Frank Luntz, who specializes in finding (through focus groups) “hot button issues” – single words or concepts that will trigger people’s emotions and override their logic. Such words have included “elites”, “socialism”, “communism” and recently in connection with health care, “Washington takeover” or “Government takeover”. In a recent strategy paper, Luntz advised Republicans to employ 4 strategies: appeal to jingoism/ Americanism; personalize issues ( e.g. Frank the plumber); stay away from facts and adopt misleading slogans; focus on taxation rather than spending; use fear to pass legislation (which has worked so well for them). There are signs that Harper is also pursuing a similar strategy with his control of the PMO and all statements coming from his ministers. Stay “on message” with the “hot button”(?) Harper-defined issues.

3. The competitive media market place demands continuous “content”, regardless of relative importance. This means that the distinction between what is truly important and what is not is blurred. Life is being trivialized and our attention spans are shrinking….which means we find it harder to distinguish innate Quality in a person (apart from the voice coach, designer, stager, speech writer etc) or issue. Thus Michael Jackson is much more important (in terms of media coverage) than Obama, Korea, Israel, Iran etc.

4. One of the big political issues in the USA is government control or no government control. The biggest winners in the no-control game are corporations, including media corporations. Fox is an obvious example, but there are many others. Do you think if anti-corporation legislation is being passed, the managements of the media corporations are going to idly stand by? Do you think that if a giant advertiser (say a corporation like Monsanto) is being investigated by some of its journalists for questionable conduct, the management of a media corporation won’t step in and squash the investigation?

As I said, this is a complex issue and I could go on, as I have done in my book, “Ageless Wisdom Spirituality: Investing in Human Evolution”. I would welcome feedback and if any readers want to take these matters further.

Shifu Andy James

PS A major contributor to violence not mentioned above (it’s a vast subject by itself) is the impact of the Entertainment industry and popular culture: movies, TV, print media, music, video games and the internet. From a very early age, we expose our children to violence (and also sex, often perverted) as a form of entertainment, so it shouldn’t be surprising that we see it enacted on our streets and in our homes. Studies have shown that exposure to violent images does increase our own violent tendencies and the effect is stronger is there is interaction, as in video games.
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Re: Why are we so Angry? (Donna Oliver)

A great introspection very well put. Andy,many thanks for bringing this into the light of consciousness.

In summation, personal greed usually wins out over integrity and power becomes the fuel. Government betrays its people by wasting our hard-earned tax dollars for its own political purpose and gain and is not held accountable. Corporations step over independents using their wealth and coercion and that is tolerated because of political dependence. The media increasingly twists reality into opinion, leaving out inconvenient truths, and cergymen use their position to lure children into unspeakable acts. And like parents who still teach children if they are bitten to bite back, we succumb to the erroneous idea that if one can feel what we feel, they'll know how much it hurts and stop doing it.

These are our role models. If they can step all over us and get away with it, dammit, why cant we? So we set out to do just that. Retaliation is the primal response. After all, the ultimate leaders of the U.S.'s response to the horror of 911 reinforced this lesson extremely well.

But most of us are just the little guy. No power, no way to fight the powers that be. So we are angry. It festers inside, just waiting for a justification to be released. And there are many.

War, proclaimed or coveted, has been our initial response for eons. Why haven't we found a better way?

Because that would take skill and time, not to mention a deep introspection of ourselves and humanity in general.

C'mon guys! Isn't it time for the influential to step up and change what isn't working for the benefit of all of us?

This is, I fear, a most difficult challenge with enormous obstacles in the way. Yet if there is to be a real change in the world's spiritual evolution, there must be a clear a path to insight.

I would like to add my insights from a Medical Qigong point of view.

Abuse causes trauma and is stored in the tissues and block the flow of energy. This is called being stuck. When we feel stuck we feel pain. Pain is unpleasant to us so we look for a way to alleviate it; 'brilliant' minds have created 'wonder' drugs to mask it, and we go out of our way to avoid it at all costs.

And the cost is dear. Overpriced prescriptions, and the unleashing of our pain on anyone or anything that happens to be in our way are only two. How many more innocent lives must be lost in war before we understand what the prophets have known for centuries? That an eye for an eye is just simply that...two lost eyes.

When abuse happens to us, this breach of trust in humanity is a shock to the heart. We expect at least an apology, otherwise it surely must be intentional. If intentional, then surely we have every reason to be angry. Society is betrayed when those in power intentionally deceive us or hurt us. So we build our fortress walls around ourselves and set up for war.

Retaliation is the primal response. After all, the country's top leaders' response to the horror of 911 taught us this lesson extremely well. For the rest of us, we feel helpless, as our grief over betrayal turns to anger and resentment. We feel powerless so we take it out on society in general. This can explain the increasing obsession with violence and pornography which makes us feel in control and all powerful. Take advantage of the meek. Bully.

This action can only breed more of the same which is aA vicious cycle of feeding Ego. A viable solution is to learn to use different tools to fix this age-old problem.

The Divine has given us the gift of verbal communication and understanding that no other life force below us has. Medical Qigong theory teaches that we can do better in dealing with conflict resolution by understanding ourselves physically, energetically, emotionally, and spiritually. The key here is forgiveness- of ourselves, the abusers, and unforeseen karmic events that lead us into the potential for deeper understanding and healing awareness. When we understand the dynamics of relationships and how we contribute to them, this becomes an easier task. The illusion of our own exclusion will fade away and we will begin to love and accept others, as we recognize and accept the enemy within. By not contributing to negativity, we can be part of the necessary change. Indeed, this is everyone's responsibility.

We are the world, so if we can change ourselves, we change the world we live in. We all have a Berlin wall to knock down.

In small, significant ways, many ordinary people are doing this.

Reference: Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy, Jerry Alan Johnson, Ph.D., D.T.C.M., D.M.Q. Chapter 32, Healing the Patient's Emotional Traumas.
Shifu Donna Oliver