Americans are angrier this year. Are hate groups contributing to the anger? – | Almanac Online |

This anger has recently been exhibited thousands of ways across our country:

• An airline passenger got angry at a flight attendant and knocked some of her teeth out. In fact, this year alone in the U.S., there have been more than 150 disruptive passenger incidents on airplanes, forcing many of them to land and evict the annoyer.
• A man killed a Georgia grocery clerk who asked him to pull up his mask so it covered his nose.
• Fauci has become the bad guy to some Americans because he told all of us to wear masks and distance one’s self from others. And maybe because the coronavirus is still with us and we feel we have suffered enough, Fauci is now the man to blame .
• The media has its lowest ratings in ages because some say it can’t be trusted. I am not sure whether people distinguish the press from social media. Most of the falsehoods are circulated on social media.
• Congress can’t be trusted if you are a Republican or a Democrat because you don’t like what Senators and Representatives are doing – or not doing.
• School boards are being deluged by parents complaining about requiring children to wear masks in the classroom or insisting that the history of blacks in America not be taught in the classroom.
• Despite solid facts to prove it, some are convinced Joe Biden lost the election — Trump is the real president.

You know all this. We are a divided nation, much bluer and redder now, compared to what we were.

One of the reasons may be because in California alone, we have 72 hate groups and 51 extreme anti-government groups, according to the Mercury News. The Southern Poverty Center, who conducted the study, said there are in this country 838 hate groups and 566 anti-government groups across the nation. These hate groups are anti-black, or anti-Semitic, or anti-gay, anti LGBTQ, anti-immigrant. anti-nationalist, anti-Muslim — take your choice.

“Hate groups are collectives that denigrate other groups of people for personal characteristics they cannot change, such as race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation,” according to the article. The names of the 72 organizations are listed.

So are we being goaded or pushed by groups who we don’t realize have become so widespread in our country; groups that are trying to make us more “anti” — and in the process more angry at each other? We can’t do much about them, because they are not illegal and they have free speech rights, too.

We tend to quickly dismiss what someone of the opposite party says, because they are not part of our tribe, or our set of beliefs. We tend to dismiss what “the other” says, because we know our tribe, our party, is right.

What is happening to us and to our society? It feels like a crazy virus is circulating across our country.

What can or should we do? Be aware, first of all.
Care about what is happening. Be in control of what you think and do. Try to be kind, try to care, love others as yourself, as religions declare. Talk to others about this growing problem.

I know that sounds platitudinous, but somehow, we all have to stop this expanding anger in ourselves and others.

Do you have any ideas about what we can do to make America less hateful?

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