In my adolescence, I saw, for the first time, that cris de couer bumper sticker: If You’re Not Outraged, You’re Not Paying Attention. Man oh man, did that speak to me. At the time I thought every inequity in our rich nation was a result of previous generations being too lazy or uncaring to have fixed things. I was a rebel without a cause, and not really with that much actual rebellion either. But my heart was on the barricades. What barricades? Where? I just knew I wanted revolution. But I sure didn’t know how to get there or what would come next. As an old guy, I, of course, now realize that life rarely fits on a bumper sticker, but there’s something that still feels significant about that phrase.
If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention. Certainly the world, even at its most peaceful moments, is full of outrages, and this is far from one of the most peaceful moments. In the bumper sticker, I find the suggestion that we’re supposed to be paying attention and therefore supposed to be outraged, presumably because our outrage will lead to some sort of social change. I don’t think the message is meant to be interpreted as a suggestion of how best to avoid outrage.
It feels like people are way more outraged these days compared to when I first encountered the bumper sticker. Also people are paying way more attention to things outside of their immediate surroundings. We get news feeds from every corner of the world now, much of it very very upsetting. We are mad at each other and this is often expressed in soundbites that are approximately as long and thoughtful as bumper stickers are.
So how do we maintain our mental health in the midst of the chaos all around us? How do we stay calm? Should we even have this as a goal? Perhaps we have a moral duty to be outraged, and therefore to try to improve the world. Or is that outrage just burning us out, leaving us spent and impotent?
