Are people more angry these days?
 

Or is it just me? I have been noticing it, and I was just talking to someone else about it and she came to the same conclusion separately from me.

People seem to be getting grumpier, wonder whats causing it? Economy maybe?

or is the economy bad because everyone is grumpy???

Yes. Much more so.

I believe it is much more than the economy, more to do with 'quality of life', hope for the future, inner health, etc but I realize those ideas are quite vague and possibly subjective.

I can only speak about the world I know, middle-class America.

Lack of sleep is another huge contributing factor in this fast-paced lifestyle.

Posted at 12:13AM :D

Lack of sleep indeed. :eek:

Posted at 3:19am! :eek:

Angry is the norm. Calm is the exception.
 

I've read a tremendous amount of biographies and histories during the past year. Most concern the 20th Century.

Internationally, there has been no period of calm. If you are US or UK oriented there have been a few short periods of calm

1900-1914 Following the Japanese defeat of Russia, in 1904-05, there is a revolution in Russia that is brutally put down by the czar. In the US, political division is so bad, there was a viable third party. In the UK, the supremacy of the empire is being challenge by Germany. Everyone is angry.

1914-1918 WW1 Everyone is angry

1918-1929 The only happy countries are the US and Japan.

1929-1939 International depression. Everyone is angry.

1939-1945 WW2 Everyone is angry

1946-1991 The Cold War. Everyone is angry.

1992 to 2001 Probably the happiest times for everyone other than Russia, Japan, Cambodia, the Balkans and a few African countries.

2001 to present everyone is angry and it is getting worse.

US oriented: the government, no matter which party, wants to kick the can down the road. The politicians posture all they want, but don't have the balls to do what needs to be done. The US needs a tax overhaul (like a VAT to replace income tax), a cut in entitlement spending and an isolationist attitude. Amazingly, the isolationists today are Democrats when 70 years ago they were hardline Republicans. Everyone is angry.

UK oriented: The loss of the empire, the imigration of Muslims, the low birth rate of native Britains has spurred a rise amongst radical right wingers. Everyone is angry.

In my opinion, the problem is the media. From 1945 to 1990, the media was fairly centrist and united. In the 1950's it was rightist, in the 60's it drifted left. In the 90's, there was a split. Network TV went centralist left. Radio programs went centralist right. Both accused the other of being extremist. Instead of each moving towards the middle, they saw their target audiences on the extreme, since compromise and agreement is boring.

Everytime you look at comments on the internet, you only find extremist.

To quote James Carville...."It's the economy stupid!"

I always ask my Republican friends..."Do you miss Clinton yet?" They always curse and say he just fell into a good economy which Bush and Reagan had all set up and it just took time to kick in. I always say if that is true they should be voting D too so it can kick in again.

Three of my core lunch group, including myself, were self employed for two to three decades and are now not. One is but not really making a living I don't think. Another and myself are working for other companies now.

Two of our group are judges. Not a bad gig. There will always be work for a judge.;)

Certainly angry and intolerant. People's real stripes really show when they drive. Always ready with the finger and no room for error of any type.

Who moved my cheese????????

people are hot, tired, worried, some desperate. But people are largely still good, decent, even generous. I see it every day. First off, think of all the REALLY bad people. The Madoffs, the Marvin Warners, folks like that. Warner hurt a lot of people really bad. I figured somebody would pull a Jack Ruby on him. Instead, the worst he got was some little old lady hit him over the head with her purse. People are pretty good even when you are really bad to them. In all the natural disasters of the past ten years, look at the response. Folks from near and far helping their neighbors - even neighbors they have never met.
A lot of people drive crazy. but a lot don't. Most, at worst drive distracted. The heat is taking a toll on folks and machinery right now. Inside of one mile I saw a big Fed-Ex box truck have a massive blow out and then a Ford Exploder-well, the engine exploded! Sudden massive smoke cloud and quick three lane changes to get to right side of road. (guy had just passed me couple miles before doing at least 10 over). And his engine was making unhappy noises then.
It is easy to notice the bad stuff. We seldom notice the good stuff, but it is still going on all the time.

The only angry people I meet are some here on OD
The people I work with are not, generally angry--except when their incompetent management screws up because he is not capable of doing his job....... ( not me--I am just the inspector--As far as I am concerned it all pays the same).
My neighbors are not generally angry--except at the family who parks all over the neighborhood.
Those angers are all focused on a specific problem. I do not see general angst.

No, and what's it to ya, anyway? Ya gotta problem with that?

(response to the thread title and not to any post, but then again...;))

Interesting list. The scary difference is, from a U.S. perspective, during most of those periods our anger was focused on somebody else. These days, we're mostly mad at each other. I'm afraid we are approaching a time in U.S. history that is going to make the race riots and Viet Nam war protests look like child's play.

Depends on what you mean by "these days." I'm 54 years old. It seems to me that people are more rude and less neighborly than they were when I was a kid, but I have not noticed a greater level of anger associated with the recent poor economy. Much more anxiety, but not really more anger. The exception to this observation concerns politics. Our politics are very angry this summer.

A few years ago I met an attorney who moved to my Northern Virginia town from Indianapolis. Her husband's job brought her to this area. She was introducing herself around town, trying to figure out what she would do for work. As a way of making small talk, I asked whether she and her family were enjoying their new neighborhood. Our area is affluent and still has some natural beauty to it, so most people see it as a good place to live. She said the usual, "Oh, it's very nice." Then she paused and said that the people aren't very friendly. She's right. People around here are not friendly. When I've visited some other cities (Indianapolis, Chicago, and Atlanta come to mind), I have noticed that the people are much more friendly. Maybe the problem with my area is that the population is more transient because of the heavy influence of the federal government and because people are so stressed out trying to keep up with the Joneses.

You looking' at ME?!