His words still ring as true today, 56 years later, as they
did when he first spoke them. Yet today we face new but similar threats. One of
the greatest among these is the outrage-industrial complex. Taught in
universities, propelled by media, endorsed by politicians and enforced by
activists, this climate of constant outrage is wearing patience thin and
negatively polarizing the American People.
Borrowing and updating a line from Eisenhower helps explain
this problem, “Now, this conjunction
of an immense [outrage] establishment and a large [virtue signaling] industry
is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political,
even spiritual—is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the
Federal government.”
University Outrage
Universities are
training centers for the outrage-industrial complex. Students, who have been
given time out of society in a safe environment to study whatever they desire,
are being taught that they are victims. Not all students but a loud minority
and a complacent majority are taught to be outraged at this perception of
victimhood.
Professors teach
students not to question but to listen and believe. That all their problems,
and all problems in the world, come from one oppressive force or another. For
Women’s Studies it is toxic men, for LGBTQ studies it is straight people, for
African American studies (or any racialized studies) it is white people and
underneath all of it is capitalism.
The amalgamation
of this oppressive force is the Straight White Cis-gendered Male Capitalist
Patriarchy. This is the devil of the Church
of Social Justice and the boogieman of the outrage-industrial complex.
These
universities train and indoctrinate students who will then go out into the
world and implement part of the philosophy of outrage and social justice.
Media’s Role
The
outrage-industrial complex includes the media. They understand that all forms
of media are a powerful platform. These platforms give you power and power is
the ultimate goal.
News rooms are
full of people who have been trained to be part of the outrage-industrial
complex. CNN, MSNBC, Buzzfeed, Vox, and other media outlets produce content
that pushes the outrage. If people are outraged they will watch or click and
when that happens they make money.
Hollywood is also
a part of the outrage-industrial complex. Stars are using their celebrity
platform to drive outrage. This is accomplished by speeches at award shows,
where famous people attempt to out outrage each other all while calling each other
brave for saying these things in a room full of cheering likeminded
individuals. By making public statements condemning large population groups as
bad people who need to be punched.
This allows the
outrage-industrial complex to reach an audience of people that news media would
not normally reach.
Social media,
like Facebook and YouTube, are using their platform not only to spread the
outrage industrial complex, but to silence those speaking out against it. These
companies have CEO’s that are trained in universities to push the narrative.
They think they are being good and decent people by directing outrage at
specific groups of people.
Political Endorsement
Politicians, more
specifically progressive politicians, love the outrage-industrial complex. It
helps them raise money so they can ‘fight against’ those who outrage people.
The Trump resistance movement is nothing more than a way to gain votes, money
and support from outrage. Daily, politicians will post to Facebook one false
outrage after another. By selling outrage they are trying to virtue signal that
they are a good and morally right person while those other people are evil
people that just want to hurt and kill you.
For example, a
popular position for these outrage merchants to take on healthcare is to say
that Republicans do not care about people and will actually kill thousands of
them by taking away their healthcare. This of course is a strawman built up so
that outrage can be pushed out to the masses.
Activist Enforcement
This outrage is
also a tool for the activist groups. They want people to be mad because they
can then direct that outrage onto a specific person. Groups like Antifa are
known for their violent behavior and for hurting people simply for wearing the
wrong color hat.
These activist
also attack people on a personal, social, emotional, and financial level. They
use outrage to try and get people fired from their job. They throw insult after
insult at people and push the bounds of legally acceptable behavior. Chanting
and interrupting people while they are talking, invading personal space my
moving forward in a mob and then claim the person standing still is assaulting
them.
The rest of the
outrage-industrial complex plays down the violence by calling it justified
outrage and giving them space to destroy.
The Industry of Outrage
It is this
massive industry of outrage that violently polarizes people. Instead of taking
a stance on a topic from a principled perspective, people are instead polarized
due to perceived outrage. It is this outrage we must guard against.
Turning to
Eisenhower again, he would say “In the councils of government, we must guard
against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought,
by the [outrage]-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and will persist.”
The unwarranted
influence the outrage-industrial complex seeks needs to be checked. The
industry of outrage is not just one person and will not be stopped by one
event, but will take the efforts of individuals willing to calmly stand up and
do the right thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment