The Age of Aggression

I read an article today about a woman at a graphic design seminar who stood up and attacked the speaker, asking him "how he slept at night".  The designer was taken aback by the question, and I have to admit, I was taken aback as a reader and as someone who works in the graphic design industry.  We don't typically think of ourselves as the bad guy, and this woman wholeheartedly believed that graphic design was another cog in the corporate machine that holds down the poor and unfortunate.  Walmart is currently the hated villain in Athens, the city I've recently adopted as my home, due to their plan to build a giant anchor store in the heart of historic downtown.  Though guys in suits sitting in boardrooms are who Occupy Wallstreet usually direct their hate towards, someone, somewhere designed Walmart's logo.

The article led me to an uncomfortable realization.  I am a part of a group that is hated.  And that realization led me to another realization:

Everyone is

We live in an age where aggression dominates our media, our discussions, and in many cases our view of the world around us.  Republicans hate bleeding heart liberals.  Democrats hate right wing religious nutjobs.  Christians hate those who do not follow the explicit teachings of their book.  Atheist hate Christians and anyone who pushes religion on others.  The 99% hates the 1%.  Home-grown Americans hate and mistrust Middle Easterners.  Hate...hate...hate.

I don't use that word lightly.  I don't just see displeasure when I read a political blog or listen to an Occupy rally or soundbites from a religious sermon.  These people aren't just angry.  Even though they will not outwardly say so, it's obvious in their tone and actions that they outright hate the group they're speaking against.  One human being hating another.  One human being wishing another harm because of ideology.

Hate between men or women has always existed, and often in much higher doses than we're seeing now; and yet I can't help but feel that this aggression is reaching a boiling point over the last five years. It's true that it started simmering after 9/11, but when the recession hit, all bets were off.  People were forced to look after themselves, and that meant looking out over their shoulder to identify those who wanted to take something from them.

The world we live in now is one of defensive protectiveness.  If we don't protect our jobs, we'll lose them to someone else.  If we don't protect our money, someone will take it.  If we don't protect our beliefs, someone will attempt to change them.  What's sad about this is that this is not an over-protectiveness.  All of these things, now more than ever, are absolutely true.  There really is someone, also trying to protect themselves and their families and yes, their beliefs, who will take from you in order to do so.

Knowing this has led most of us into a type of 24/7 battle stance, always looking for the next attack.  In that reality, many of us have decided to strike first; to point the finger at those we believe will take from us, and in doing so somehow weaken them before they can hit us where it hurts.  The Tea Party firmly believes that Obama and the Democrats want to take from them through taxes, over-regulation and attempts to alter their way of life.  Whether this is true or not, to the Tea Party, the current administration is a hated enemy who must be defeated.

Occupy Wallstreet, in this manner, is exactly the same as the Tea Party movement.  Big Business and corporate managers want nothing more than to take from us and change our way of life to suit their agenda.  Whether this is true or not, Big Business is a hated enemy that must be stopped.

Thanks to our media, these shows of protective aggression are not only louder, but spread much faster than they would or even could have in ages before.  True, both the Tea Party and Occupy movements are currently losing steam, but that hate remains, and other more timeless arguments over religion and ways of life are only gaining traction, and permeating into our politics, our entertainment, and even into our day-to-day lives.  No matter what we do, we cannot escape the aggression of others.

What's most terrifying is that in this age of economic vulnerability, we may not be able to escape that aggression within ourselves.  In protecting ourselves, we have a responsibility to avoid the temptation to turn those with situations different from our own into villains who want nothing more than to strip us and our families of what we have.  We can protect ourselves without turning to hate.  We can also protect ourselves from hate directed at us while responsibly striving to improve our situation.

A wave of peace and rainbows isn't going to sweep over our society anytime soon and end the aggression, but if each of us acts, speaks, and thinks responsibly, we can at least turn that aggression into productivity and active discussion.  Hopefully discussions which will bring about the changes that will end our need to so fanatically protect what we hold dear.