No simple answer why motley GOP flock is so angry

Treatment as other would ruffle anyone’s feathers

A colleague recently confronted me with one of the deep philosophical questions of the age: Why are Republicans so angry?

I was asked to field the question because, as a conservative working in mainstream news media, I’m like one of those rare birds from the tropics blown into your backyard on a great gust of wind. “Let’s poke it and see if it flies away.”

My presence raises all sorts of questions: What is he? (Still don’t know.) How did he get here? (Dumb luck.) Why does he look so pale? (Midwestern winters.) What does he eat? (Everything.) Is he dangerous? (Only at dinner time.)

So like Klaatu, an emissary from an alien world to a strange and wondrous planet, let me attempt to answer my colleague’s earnest query. I come in peace.

I’ll start by saying there’s no one answer, and certainly no simple answer, about why many of my friends, family, neighbors and strangers on the street erupt like Vesuvius when subjected to craven images of Joe Biden, AOC or MSNBC.

You see, Republicans, and certainly conservatives, are not one species of bird – say, delightful gold finches warbling in harmony atop the old oak tree.

No, we’re a motley flock of albatrosses, turkey vultures, buzzards, starlings, blue jays and kites.

So there’s no Unified Theory of Republican Grouchiness. We’re a complicated lot driven by deep currents of passion and righteousness. Or not.

You’re a ‘reasonable person’

But the more I thought about it, the more I settled on the language of progressivism to explain the anger of conservatism. Three words in particular are apt: microaggressions, othering and gaslighting.

Microaggressions, for those who don’t speak progressive, are small, subtle verbal jabs intended to put outsiders in their place and to keep them off balance. What did he mean by that? Why do I suddenly feel angry? Am I overreacting? Did I misunderstand? (I was told years ago by a fellow journalist that I was a “reasonable person – for an evangelical Christian.”)

Othering, like microaggressions, is used to keep outsiders in their place. The group in power employs othering to communicate to those who aren’t one of the cool kids that they don’t belong. It happens in schools and workplaces, and it’s a foundational characteristic of social media.

And it’s especially relentless in mainstream media and popular entertainment toward conservatives. (Consider this recent Vanity Fair headline: “192 Republicans decide they’d like formulaseeking parents to keep suffering.” That one was so far over the top it made me laugh, which I doubt is what the writer intended.)

Then there’s my personal favorite, gaslighting. It’s the digital-age version of “Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”

Progressives use gaslighting to tell conservatives that there aren’t really biases against them in the news media or in Hollywood. That they have no need to worry about what their children are being taught in public schools. (“Trust us. We’re government employees.”) That conservative students are just as welcome on university campuses as progressive students. That Republican presidents are responsible for economic inequality, but it lacks sophistication to saddle Democratic leaders with responsibility for soaring inflation and plunging stock markets.

OK fine, Tim, but what does any of that have to do with Republicans’ anger? I can’t imagine the connection.

But ponder this: What emotions tend to rise to the surface when you routinely insult, belittle, smirk at, ridicule, ostracize and dismiss someone who already doesn’t understand you or trust you?

Get back to me when you have an answer.

But conservatives are happier

Despite that, while researching this column, I came across articles in, of all places, The New York Times and The Atlantic reporting that conservatives are happier than progressives and find more meaning in life.

Perhaps Republicans aren’t the angry ones, after all. Maybe people on the left resort to all of that microaggression, othering and gaslighting because they’re the ones who are unhappy. They even may be angry about it.

Perhaps the real question is: Why are progressives so jealous?