I suspect some people are exhausted.
The World provides almost infinite channels to source and vent your outrage. You can consume and generate outrage from the moment you open your eyes till the moment you close them again.
Like your checking account, your outrage budget is finite and limited. Unlike your checking account, you have no overdraft protection.
You have principles, things you care deeply about, and people you love. Spending your limited outrage budget defending these is a righteous investment. You’ll never overdraft that budget if you’re the one deciding how to spend it.
The tribes, however, require your outrage. Your outrage is the energy that allows them to gain power, grow, and keep power — and that’s all they care about. The tribe doesn’t care about your principles, the things you care deeply about, or the people you love. They care about their own power.
They use emotionally charged terminology such as anti-democratic and anti-free speech to ignite your outrage. Once you’ve lost control of your own outrage budget, overdrafting is all but assured.
Just make sure that you know who is setting the agenda for your outrage. Is it you, or is it a tribe?
