Anger Management

Is it just me, or is there a huge increase in the amount of unbridled anger, impatience, and downright nastiness in our society right now?

From the road to the workplace, it seems that people of all ages are raging at anything that they perceive as standing in their way, and it’s becoming ridiculous.

My wife works in a pastoral role within a small secondary school, and some of the behaviour I hear about is frankly shocking. A section of children have always had a leaning toward poor conduct, but the amount of sheer anger directed at the adults has reached disturbing levels. Even the parents of some children think nothing of taking out the frustrations of their shit lives on the poor teachers and support staff.

I see unbridled anger in shops, supermarkets, bank branches, and out on the streets. Without a doubt though, the major arena for people’s raging is the UK road system.

I’ve never understood the ridiculous change in behaviour that happens whenever someone takes the driver’s seat in a vehicle. Some sort of primal instinct takes over, and the reasonable human being that climbed into the car turns into an animal that would happily risk killing others to jump a couple of spaces or forgive a minor error in another’s driving. The level of aggression seems to be increasing as time goes on.

The pandemic is often cited as the main reason for this change in societal behaviour, but my view is that it’s caused by the frustration arising from the huge increase in inequality across our nation. People see others with big houses and cars, and realise that they’re being left behind. There have always been rich and poor, but now even the middle classes are being squeezed into submission so things are bubbling over. Look at the good old USA to see what we’re headed towards. The populist government have also created the illusion of people versus an elite when they are the very elite that we need to be aware of in the first place.

So….stay calm, be kind, and take care of the gammons in your network of friends and family.