Anger continued on past its usefulness becomes unjust, then dangerous. Nursed for its own sake, valued as an end in itself, it loses its goal. It fuels not positive activism but regression, obsession, vengeance, self-righteousness. Corrosive, it feeds off itself, destroying its host in the process. The racism, misogyny, and counter-rationality of the reactionary right in American politics for the last several years is a frightening exhibition of the destructive force of anger deliberately nourished by hate, encouraged to rule thought, invited to control behavior. I hope our republic survives
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A powerful statement and strong accusation. Is the right motivated by hate? Sometimes. As is the left. But I don’t know that it’s all the time and I don’t even know that what some on one side would call “hate” is actually hate in the hearts of the other side.
One key word in this is “reactionary.” As we are moved by our anger at injustice to do something, to change reality, to create justice, are we only reacting and continuing to react? Or are we proactively seeking out justice? Are we striving for human flourishing?
Some of the injustices we rail against today simply would not be if we had taken the words of the Golden Rule more seriously to begin with. It is, in fact, not a reactive but a proactive command to seek out our neighbor and love them as we would want to be loved. Far too often, we sit around waiting for someone to do something for us or to us, rather than going, seeking, and finding others and doing for them as we would have done for ourselves. Which of these more resembles Christ?
