An Obvious Addiction - Rage

Addicted - exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity.

As I wrote in a previous post, one of the goals of for profit media is to make people angry. Angry people stay glued to the screen for longer which leads to more advertising revenue. The chain from incentive -> action -> outcome is pretty straightforward.

While left-wing media might outwardly rage at the idea of another Trump presidency, I suspect that in some ways they're secretly delighted. The speed and volume of outrageous behavior to report on goes through the fucking roof when he's in power. If it's your job to report on that behavior, him being in the spotlight is an absolute goldmine.

And unfortunately, we have literally just started. We have four more years of this shit ahead of us.

Four.

Fucking.

YEARS.

The amount of insanity is going to at least stay the same during that time, if not increase. I don't know ANYONE with the emotional fortitude to stare straight at this dumpster fire for a prolonged time and not lose their damn minds.

And yet we do.

I've become increasingly convinced in recent months that a disproportionate amount of the populace is addicted to rage, and this cuts across the political spectrum.

So I think a very important question to ask yourself as you head into 2025 (as well as 2026, 2027, and 2028) is this:

"When I consume media do I often find myself angry/outraged? When I'm not consuming said media do I feel a compulsion to check it?"

If the answer to both is even partially true, that's a symptom of addictive behavior.

So my follow up question would be...

Are you ok with that?