Anger, Injustice, and the Rise of Harsh Rhetoric

To paraphrase an old rock and roll song, “don’t know much about history, don’t know much about biology, don’t know much about the French I took, but I do know that I’m mad at you and what a miserable world it is”. Most people from all walks of life these days seem distraught about something. About the only humor you hear is expletives when someone hits their funny bone on a sharp object. Sometimes however our madness and meanness goes beyond rhetoric into actual violence. There is a new book out “The Barn” in which researchers have discovered the barn is still standing near Mony, Mississippi where in 1955 a 14 year old black boy from Chicago, Emmitt Till, was hung from a rafter and tortured for over 4 hours before being killed. His death sentence was due to allegedly whistling at a white lady, probably showing out for his Mississippi cousins. The men responsible were tried for his murder and acquitted while laughingly bragging in an article about doing it. The state of Mississippi said these actions were an aberration by irrational people. Yet just 10 years later 3 young people registering black people to vote were killed and buried in an earthen dam in Philadelphia, Mississippi. However, today harsh rhetoric directed toward the most vulnerable parts our society seem to be on the rise. When you are angry, the easiest release of that anger is toward those that are not in a position to retaliate.