This whole Bowe Bergdahl thing is the perfect example of how pundits
and opinions rule rather a calm search for what's behind it all. I find
it frightening that so much of what I see and hear is simply one
partisan talking head/blogger trying to maintain a larger agenda with
any twisted hot-button language that can be assembled.
It seems we have a growing number of people who want to be pissed off, jumping at any chance to get that desire fulfilled. I just don't get it.
Coincidentally, a chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers I just finished may shed some light on this.
In this chapter he outlines the idea that our cultural baggage not only stays with us when we leave where we have lived, but it can be traced back for hundreds of years. One of his examples is the culture of the American South which largely comes from the people who migrated in large numbers in and around the Appalachian Mountains from specific parts of England and Ireland, places where personal and family honor carried a lot of weight. Any insult against a person or their family often results in a hostile reaction to protect their honor.
In a study he outlines, individuals are insulted by someone they simply encountered walking down a hallway. Those who were from the South had higher levels of chemicals in their blood like testosterone and cortisol after the encounter, things that indicate they were in an excited mood. Other tests that were done showed that these people were also more likely to get in a fight or support someone else who was extracting a honor-based retribution through violence.
Because I just read these two stories near each other in time, it made me think that there might be a hint here to what's going on. If a group of people with this kind of cultural background feel insulted, they are more likely to look for a fight, and it doesn't really matter what the fight is about--they can become trolls looking for a confrontation.
For whatever reason, people from the American South--where conservatives have the most influence and power--feel like they are not being respected by the rest of the country. The actions in response seems very close to this lashing-out phenomenon I think we're experiencing, and not just about the Berghdal situation. Add in the additional factor that conservatives generally like change less than others, it seems to be a recipe for all kinds of confrontations.
I'm sure it a complicated set of factors that are in play, but to me this idea makes a good deal of sense.
It seems we have a growing number of people who want to be pissed off, jumping at any chance to get that desire fulfilled. I just don't get it.
Coincidentally, a chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers I just finished may shed some light on this.
In this chapter he outlines the idea that our cultural baggage not only stays with us when we leave where we have lived, but it can be traced back for hundreds of years. One of his examples is the culture of the American South which largely comes from the people who migrated in large numbers in and around the Appalachian Mountains from specific parts of England and Ireland, places where personal and family honor carried a lot of weight. Any insult against a person or their family often results in a hostile reaction to protect their honor.
In a study he outlines, individuals are insulted by someone they simply encountered walking down a hallway. Those who were from the South had higher levels of chemicals in their blood like testosterone and cortisol after the encounter, things that indicate they were in an excited mood. Other tests that were done showed that these people were also more likely to get in a fight or support someone else who was extracting a honor-based retribution through violence.
Because I just read these two stories near each other in time, it made me think that there might be a hint here to what's going on. If a group of people with this kind of cultural background feel insulted, they are more likely to look for a fight, and it doesn't really matter what the fight is about--they can become trolls looking for a confrontation.
For whatever reason, people from the American South--where conservatives have the most influence and power--feel like they are not being respected by the rest of the country. The actions in response seems very close to this lashing-out phenomenon I think we're experiencing, and not just about the Berghdal situation. Add in the additional factor that conservatives generally like change less than others, it seems to be a recipe for all kinds of confrontations.
I'm sure it a complicated set of factors that are in play, but to me this idea makes a good deal of sense.
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