Outrage fatigue and its discontents
by Jon Carroll

A therapist I know says that more and more people are showing up at her door with a nonspecific anxiety disorder, which turns out to be shame and confusion about the state of the nation.

Even those of us who have formed the loyal opposition to virtually every administration are sensing that there's something different about the new battle. We were, before, always proud to be Americans, whatever the excesses of its government or the dark secrets of its history.

I think that was partly because we believed that America was stronger than the passing whimsies of presidents. Our Constitution protected us; our diversity protected us; our national impulse toward optimism and friendliness protected us. That last characteristic tended to drive the rest of the world nuts, but who cared? We liked being sappy.

None of that is true now. It's not just the war in Iraq, although that's certainly a big part of it. It's everything. It's the increase in spying on citizens and the constant pressure to suspend civil liberties. It's the relentless attack on all environmental rules. It's the nonstop pandering to large corporations at the expense of everyone else.
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  thanks to Dumbmonkey