Addicted to Outrage

There are a lot of pundits who make a good living on outrage. It’s their first refuge and resort. President Obama has decided to visit a different National Cemetary for Memorial Day because it seems a bit unfair that it’s always Arlington that gets the attention. Surely the servicemembers in other National Cemetaries are just as noble, brave and deserving of a Presidential visit. It seems pretty reasonable for anyone willing to actually look at what is really happening.

However, a person hooked on outrage immediately cries out that the President isn’t visiting Arlingtion and therefore dissing all deceased veterans. They feed on the initial outrage and reason goes out the window. All they have is their anger and that’s all they feel they need. Any information that doesn’t feed their outrage is denied as invalid and suspect.

This isn’t limited to politics. Religious people can be addicted to outrage as well. We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the hyperventilating Christian fundamentalist preacher, but we have outrage junkies in the Pagan community too. They fly off half-cocked with their incorrect assumptions and cause no end of trouble for the folks who have to untangle the mess for months afterward.

Soul-work is hard and long. It takes awhile to get over being unnecessarily defensive, aggressive or just detoxing from outrage addiction. We’re all at different points on our spiritual path but we should all walk with calmness, clarity and reason in our hearts. Outrage is useful and has it’s place, but if someone is consistently outraged it loses it’s meaning. The little boy who cried wolf is a prime example.

Senseless outrage leads to heartbreak, divisiveness, war and years of damage to a spiritual community. I’m going to spend tonight in meditation on the role outrage plays in my life. I think it’s good to review that now and again.