𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡?

I often wonder how much anger is actually displaced anger at ourselves?

It’s something I’ve been mulling over of late as I watch the level of anger in our political discourse.

Anger at governments. Anger at political parties. Anger at politicians. Anger at institutions. Anger at the media. Anger at pretty much anyone or anything that can be blamed for the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Some of that anger is entirely justified.

Governments make bad decisions. Politicians break promises. Parties lose their way. Institutions fail us. The media can distort, sensationalise and selectively report. 

But misplaced anger also distorts and admitting that we may have made a poor decision ourselves is difficult. Must easier to say.. 

• Labor deceived me.
• The Liberals betrayed me.
• The media lied to me.
• The system is rigged.
• The major parties are all the same.

Why? Because finding another culprit is often easier than examining our own role in the outcome.

What responsibility did I have for the decision I made? More importantly, why was I so easily persuaded?

Those are much harder questions.

Anger is remarkably easy to exploit. Give angry people someone to blame and you give their anger direction.

And there are vested interests that are only too keen to exploit it.

The media understands the value of anger. Outrage generates attention, clicks, viewers and revenue.

So do social media influencers. I think many would be surprised at just how much some of these influencers make through Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other platforms.

Political organisations understand it too. Anger attracts followers. Followers can become members, donors and voters.

It’s also worth looking at how some political parties and organisations are structured. Some operate through corporate structures where control rests with very few people. And anger can have a significant monetary value. Followers become members, donors and voters, and votes attract public funding.

So perhaps we should ask: who benefits from keeping us angry, and what are the financial rewards for doing so?

And then there are times when anger seems to defy logic.

Look at the past two federal elections.

2022: Anger helped remove a government. For many of those now expressing their anger, what followed under the Albanese government has proved considerably worse.

2025: Rather than reconsider the original decision, voters punished the conservative alternative again, to the point of handing Labor an overwhelming majority.

To me, that DOES defy logic.

And now many of the people furious about the direction of the country are once again looking for another political vehicle through which to express that anger.

But have they stopped to ask why?

Have they examined the decisions that helped bring us here?

Have they looked critically at the people now telling them they have the answer?

Or have they simply found somewhere new to put their anger?

I suspect that somewhere beneath the anger there is, for more than a few, an uncomfortable recognition that their own choices contributed to the political circumstances they now despise.

Whether they consciously acknowledge that is another matter.

Because acknowledging it means accepting some responsibility for it.

Democracy doesn’t function particularly well if voters demand accountability, honesty and truth from politicians while exempting themselves from the same.

That requires something considerably harder than anger. It requires reflection and being honest with ourselves.

Because if we don’t reflect, we don’t correct the mistake. We simply redirect the anger.

And I fear we’re about to repeat it again.

Different Horse. Same Course. Same Finish Line. More Chaos.