Because I love, I am angry. Really angry. And if you are not angry, I think you should check your pulse, because if your heart beats for something, someone, anything, you’ll be angry when it’s harmed or threatened.
To paraphrase Rene Descartes (1596-1650): I love; therefore, I’m angry. The question is what are we going to do with our anger, because Friedrich Nietzsche (1840-1900) was right at least once: “Beware that when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.” In other words, because I love, I become angry when what I love is threatened. But my anger can lead me, if I am not careful, to become a hateful person. How can I manage or harness anger without being embittered and “monsterified” by it? A good place to start is by seeking to understand it…
In the United States right now, for example, unscrupulous politicians have stirred up vicious resentment against immigrants. “They steal our jobs! They’re criminals and rapists!” The truth is that American jobs have been lost largely because of trade policy, automation, and economic recessions, not immigration, and immigrants are statistically less violent and dangerous than people who were born in the U.S. Even though the stimulus is a phantom, the angry response is real, and that anger can lead people to commit hate crimes, vote for hateful politicians, and pass hateful laws…in other words, to become monsters. (end)
And here is a main point: “So, precisely because our anger is so automatic, so reflexive, it can render us sitting ducks for manipulation by demagogues.”
McLaren’s article was written in 2018. His view is just as relevant in 2021 and will be even more relevant in 2022 and 2024. Anger and hate will continue to make us monsters – even so-called good Catholics purportedly following Jesus Christ. We must be aware. Our eyes and ears must be opened. As Jesus said, "Ephphata!"
Deacon David Pierce
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